Operated by the Calgary Contemporary Arts Society

Les Graff on R. Gyo-Zo Spickett

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Spickett Gallery

Writings:
-Jacek Malec
-Les Graff
-Harry Kiyooka

"Artist is something
you are,
not something you do."
R. Gyo-Zo Spickett

"He was more concerned with the generic idea of people, people in relation to one another, people shaped by their interests, needs and activities, people as humanity."
Les Graff

"Challenged by the complexity of human form, he reached beyond appearances and physical relations, to create a visual metamorphosis."
Les Graff

"It is the strength of Ronald Spickett's truth that leaves his image scarred on the mind's retina long after the physical presence of the work has been removed."
George Wood

"Spickett's example on all fronts has helped open doors regarding professional artistic thinking and performance. He played a vital role in helping to develop the momentum that would sustain artistic development over a 20-30 year period."
Les Graf

Between Figurative Metaphor and Eastern Philosophy

There are those who do 'make the difference'. Regarding visual arts in Alberta, R. Gyo-Zo Spickett was one of those people. His example of commitment to professionalism, his focus regarding the business of art making, and his pursuit of formal artistic concerns made him a 'touch-stone' for developing artists in the 50s and 60s. There were others of course who had illustrated artistic commitment, however, Spickett, in his quiet confident manner, took the idea of commitment to a new level. His was a commitment that evolved out of consistency of purpose, consistency of involvement and consistency of means.

What the Alberta art scene needed at the time was someone of example, who was into art for the 'long haul'. Someone, who in spite of having to teach to make a living, would continue to position art making 'front and centre'. Spickett was certainly that someone. He was an evolving artist with extremely high personal standards. Young artists could identify with the developing nature of his work. The confidence he had in his own artistic development acted like a beacon for other artists wishing to commit themselves to the possibility of a career as a practising artist.

There have been few artists in Alberta who have focused primarily upon the figure as subject for their art. With so many, figure painting has been an academic extension of figure drawing and for a few, a specialized approach to recording human appearances. Certainly something separate from the mainstream of contemporary art. Spickett's approach regarding the figure was different. He was not concerned with individual appearances - the idea of recording specifics. He was more concerned with the generic idea of people, people in relation to one another, people shaped by their interests, needs and activities, people as humanity.

Spickett's developmental plan was in essence a search for structure - a way of wrapping figure and background, interior and exterior, into a single metaphor. It started in Mexico under Pinto, the instructor/disciple of Rico Lebrun, the Italian born American muralist who had also used time in Mexico as a location for regeneration. It continued upon his return to Alberta, dictating a lineal/shape vocabulary, increasing in complexity until he was involved in pure non-objective painting. Then reborn in the form of figurative themes with a shift to a broader use of colour and form, the emphasis became spiritual. It ended with drawings; drawings in which virtuosity of means was replaced with symbols. From illustrative beginnings to the refinement of the symbol and metaphor, a 40-year journey with his last major exhibition of new work being shown at Canadian Art Galleries Ltd. in 1982.

Concerned with the figure as a symbol, Spickett single handedly moved figure painting into the mainstream of contemporary Alberta art and the area of developing formal concerns. His achievements in total were concerned with art first, subject second. The figure was central to this means but not an end in itself.

The mural paintings in public and private collection, which we label as 'Spicketts' are mainly the result of three different but sequential periods of artistic production, each of these periods having their own style and their own focus.

The first of these periods concerns the work after having returned from Mexico. It is developmental in nature - a craftsman's approach to establishing a vocabulary, in search of unity. Leaning heavily on his ability as a draftsman, the anatomical figurative forms were integrated into all over architectural formats. Challenged by the complexity of human form, he reached beyond appearances and physical relations, to create a visual metamorphosis. It is with the work of this period that Spickett achieves the deserved respect and admiration of his Calgary contemporaries.

The second brief period was concerned with a 'spit and dribble' approach to non-objective art. This was a logical extension of the developing lineal complexity of earlier figure work and gave Spickett his initial degree of national recognition. Back on the local scene there was surprise regarding his move away form figurative ideas and the successes he had achieved with such work. Spickett's comments in a National Gallery Catalogue (1) and a 1960 issue of Canadian Art put everything into perspective. 'If my paintings retained the image of illusion of form longer than seemed contemporary, it is only because I have found in necessary to experiment, grasp, accumulate ideas and methods, in order to unravel and release them.'

Meanwhile the author of the same Canadian Art article commented. 'The fact that we have had no chance to observe Spickett's progress towards this point, that he thus emerged full-blown from the West, only testifies to the still shaky and erratic nature of interregional communications in Canadian art.'(2)

The third period marks a forceful return to the figure. The patterned lineal structure of the earlier periods was set aside for a more plastic form. Emphasis shifted from formal concerns to human concerns. With a broader more emotional approach to colour, Spickett the draftsman became Spickett the painter. This was work that evoked an undeniable sense of affirmation concerning the human spirit. Themes often wrapped up in historical and contemporary costume allowed him to explore in tandem the visual concerns of the artist and timeless human situations. These were the strongest works of his career. George Wood, then curator of the Alberta College of Art, and an exhibition of Spickett's work in 1969, stated, 'It is the strength of Ronald Spickett's truth that leaves his image scarred on the mind's retina long after the physical presence of the work has been removed.'

In spite of the fact that this province has a fixation concerning landscape painting, it has still been possible for the artist concerned with the figure to make a meaningful artistic contribution. Spickett's example on all fronts has helped open doors regarding professional artistic thinking and performance. He played a vital role in helping to develop the momentum that would sustain artistic development over a 20-30 year period. Most importantly he contributed artistically as an individual - a unique individual.

He withdrew from full-time art production to become involved with more personal philosophical and spiritual concerns. Looking back now, at his history of involvement and concern regarding his subject, it was inevitable.

Les Graf
Artist/Curator

________
(1)Spickett/Caiserman, National Gallery Catalogue, 1960.
(2)Robert Fulford, Canadian Art, Issue No. 71, 1981.