Derek Root

The Contemporary Art Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by three Vancouver artists: Warren Murfitt, Derek Root and Steven Shearer. Using a variety of media, these artists have in common a visual reference to forms of abstract art from the 1960s: Hard-Edge, Op and Minimalism. Their approach to this visual language, however, is derived from different sources and none of these artists was fully aware of the other's work before this exhibition.

There are tendencies internationally toward re-examining the language of abstract art from various points of view. The artists in this exhibition are not nostalgically yearning for the work or ideas of the 1960s. They have used the strong visual forms of abstraction to incite an immediate response by the viewer; there is the promise of a purely visual experience, but there is, at the same time, something unsettling. Murfitt's op-ish patterns look abstract but are deceptively familiar; Root's pristine appearing surfaces are layered with nuances and variations that arise from his process of hand-crafting; Shearer's systematic patterns are disrupted by texts that speak of insecurity.

This exhibition carries on concerns about abstract art that have been explored in two previous 1994 Contemporary Art Gallery exhibitions: Mina Totino, Paintings; Helmut Dorner, Under The Surface.

Essay: “Warren Murfitt, Derek Root, Steven Shearer,” Keith Wallace

A large sculpture in a gallery space. It is made of a wood and metal structure and shows an enlarged wood pattern in the interior. This inside part is lit in bright-blue.

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A large painting mounted on a white wall. The painting has a yellow background and a gridded dot pattern. Most of the dots are white, but some red and black dots are spread throughout.

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The corner of a gallery space with various artworks mounted on both walls. The works are paintings on square/rectangle canvasses. Many of them are one single colour but two have a dotted pattern. 

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01-MurffitShearerRoot-1994.jpeg

A gallery space with artworks on the walls. The work in the centre is a large sculpture made of a wooden frame. The opening of the structure shows a large wood-pattern lit in bright blue.

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02-MurffitShearerRoot-1994.jpeg

3 artworks on wood panels mounted on a white wall. They show black geometric patterns on natural wood with text. The work on the left has a grid pattern that reads "learn the truth I tried to hide." 

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The corner of a gallery space with 3 artworks visible. One is a wooden structure that shows a large wood pattern inside, in blue. The other 2 works are wood panels with black geometric patterns. 

Derek Root

Exhibitions