Friday, 16 September 2016

Local Love | Rainbow Mural at Ian Tan Gallery



Local Love! The stunning vibrant mural embracing all the colours of the spectrum is now complete along South Granville!
Hello Dolls,

South Granville is a lovely neighbourhood in Vancouver brimming with adorable boutiques, restaurants and artisans. Over the summer, a new mural went up on the side of Ian Tan's Gallery. The mural first caught my eye when it was only quarter complete. Now all four parts of the mural have been painted and it is a fabulous wall that is hard to miss when you are driving along South Granville. 

The artwork is by the Hamilton, Ontario painter, Kristofir Dean. The vibrancy and boldness of using rich hues of colour in organised lines really drew me into his work. I looked into Kristofir's inspiration for his work and his goal of bringing the full-colour spectrum to the forefront in a world that has become fixated with neutral tones. It is true because when I go downtown, the majority of the pedestrians are wearing black/grey/white clothing. There is no hue and is honestly boring in a world that is bursting with colour! The biggest example would be to look at nature. Fruits and vegetables are all rich vibrant hues; yet, we have gravitated towards "safe" black and white. 



A total of 4 colourful pieces now adorn the north-facing exterior wall of the Ian Tan Art Gallery. All four of the pieces for the mural are bright vibrant colours, but with varying tones for each. My favourite out of the four is probably the far left piece. I like the order of the colours in the far left painting. I love how the bottom begins with the beautiful tones of turquoise and greens to meet warmer shades in the middle and finally ending with cool tones of blues and greens at the very top. The shades of colours used in this piece are bright, but still paired with some softer shades. 



With each of the four pieces composed from 34 different coloured stripes that are bisected at a diagonal. At the bisect, the stripe switches from one tone of the colour to a darker or lighter shade of that same colour; therefore, each piece actually has 68 different shades! Now that is a huge spectrum of colours! 

Kristofir decided to compose his pieces with all the colours radiating from one focal point to the bisect at which point the beams of colour bend and diverge inward. He hopes the movement of the colours stimulates the viewers mind, heart as well as spirit. 



It is great to see Kristofir tackling something as simple as bringing more colour to our monochromatic world. Colours have an integral significance to all facets of life. A shade of colour in food, fashion, spirituality and even business logos have a huge impact on how we perceive it from a visual standpoint. Colours are quite impactful such as when we see a yellow sunflower, we immediately feel the urge from the uplifting bright tones of yellow. 

"I paint these colourful pieces to bring the spectrum back to the home and the wall, transforming the space by adding visual spice." - Kristofir Dean

I am seriously in love with all of the new mural additions to the lower mainland. Check out my posts on Ola Volo's South Granville mural as well as The Vancouver Mural Festival for more local love! 

BYES

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