Artist paints famous Canadian paintings as if they are on  display in the TTC

Toronto artist Peter Harris recreates miniature versions of famous Canadian paintings and imagines them in everyday setting like a subwaycar, a TTC station, or the parking garage of Pearson airport. He meticulously  recreates paintings by well-known Canadian artists such as the Group of Seven,Christopher Pratt, or Alex Colville, and then paints them hanging in spaces where they never would be in real life- on the wall of the subway station, or placed for travellers to see while walking to the terminal at Pearson airport. He  wants to have viewers of his work think about the romanticized version of the Canadian  landscape from the past – the mountains, snowy outdoors and natural  beauty of Canada, and contrast those visions with what he thinks more Canadians see on a daily basis- the city, with its indoor spaces, architecture, subways,elevators, and lobbies.

He grew up studying the Group of Seven, but never really feeling that their work represented the “real” Canada that he knew living in  the city. He wanted to make art about what he saw on a daily basis- and started  painting parking lots and the suburbs, eventually starting to make paintings of the  TTC for this new show.

People often ask this artist “Why are there no people in your work?”.  That’s because the artist removes  them from the scene to make it easier for the viewer to imagine themselves in the setting of the subway or the station and having a moment of quiet contemplation coming across these famous Canadian paintings.

His new show is on now until October 5 at the Mira Godard Gallery in Yorkville. It brings together 16 of his newest paintings in a show  called “Past and Present”.

Peter Harris

Past and Present

New Paintings

Until Oct 5 2024

Mira Godard Gallery

22 Hazelton Ave. Toronto

www.godardgallery.com