ROBERT GENN (1936-2014)
The Black Tusk (2,319m - 7,608ft)
Canada (British Columbia)
1. In An afternoon at Black Tusk, 1999, acrilyc on canvas, Assiniboia Gallery
2. In The Black Tusk, 1995, oil on canvas
The mountain
The Black Tusk (2,319m- 7608ft) is a stratovolcano and a pinnacle of volcanic rock in Garibaldi Provincial Park of British Columbia, Canada, part of the part of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt which is a segment of the Canadian Cascade Arc. The upper spire is visible from a great distance in all directions. It is particularly noticeable from the Sea-to-Sky Highway just south of Whistler, British Columbia. Distinctive and immediately identifiable, The Black Tusk is among the best known mountains in the Garibaldi Ranges of the Coast Mountains. To Squamish people, this mountain is known as "t'ak't'ak mu'yin tl'a in7in'a'xe7en". In their language it means "Landing Place of the Thunderbird" speaking of the supernatural "in7in'a'xe7en" or Thunderbird. The jagged shape of the mountain and its black colouring are said to come from the Thunderbird's lightning.
The painter
Robert Douglas Genn was a Canadian artist, who has gained recognition for his style, which is in the tradition of Canadian landscape painting. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Genn has often been compared with members of the 1920s Canadian Group of Seven. In 1961, he met Lawren Harris who was a neighbour in Point Grey, Vancouver. Genn had problems with painting skies, and Harris's advice was to turn the picture upside-down: "Paint down from the trees to the clouds at the bottom of the picture to get the perspective right." Genn said this was "valuable advice", which enabled him "to control the gradation, and work up into the trees in a more abstract manner."
His work is in corporate and public collections, including Air Canada, Bank Of Montreal, Canadian General Insurance, Canadian Airlines, Canadian Utilities, The Churchill Corporation, Expo '86, Esso Resources, First City - California II, Highfield Oil & Gas, Molson Brewery Ltd., Montreal Trust, Shell Resources, University of Alberta, Westgate Chevrolet, Glenbow Museum and Government of Belgium.
His work is in corporate and public collections, including Air Canada, Bank Of Montreal, Canadian General Insurance, Canadian Airlines, Canadian Utilities, The Churchill Corporation, Expo '86, Esso Resources, First City - California II, Highfield Oil & Gas, Molson Brewery Ltd., Montreal Trust, Shell Resources, University of Alberta, Westgate Chevrolet, Glenbow Museum and Government of Belgium.
He ran the Painter's Keys website, a worldwide artists' community, with his staff and volunteers. The web site sends out an erudite free twice-weekly newsletter, which is sent to 135,000 artists in over 100 countries, and claims the largest collection of art quotes online with over 5,382 authors quoted.
In 2005, Genn campaigned against the Chinese website, arch-world.com, which was selling thousands of high-resolution images of around 2,800 artists' work illegally, without permission. After failing to gain support from the Canadian government or the African embassy in Ottawa, Genn used his web site to enlist subscribers' support to email objections to the arch-world, resulting within days in over 1,000 online complaints from artists, dealers and politicians to the company and governments. This stimulated a diplomatic protest letter to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Trading and Law Department from the Canadian Embassy in Beijing. Genn credited the campaign with the subsequent removal of images by 800 Canadian artists from arch-world, although many works were reinstated on arch-world soon after.
Genn has been a member of the Board of Directors at Emily Carr College of Art & Design.
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2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau