Cities by John Hartman

The artist John Hartman's collection called Cities was featured at the University of Toronto Art Center for the last few weeks. Today was the last day for it and luckily I got a chance to see it. I didn't know anything about this John Hartman character before hand but his painting were wonderful. Maybe it was the subject matter, big paintings about cities, that was especially appealing to me.


He has pictures of many cities as part of the exhibit: Toronto, Boston, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Manhattan, London... Incidentally, all the cities are located near water be it a river, a bay, or a lake. I like the way these paintings have shifting perspectives. Some have an ariel view for majority of the paining but you can see the horizon at the edge which I really liked. The major city streets have a fluid motion to them hinting at fast movement and congestion.


There are particular scenes of prominence in the paintings, things that the painter has personal associations with. Major landmarks and places of importance are clearly outlined and painted with details whereas others are briefly outlined with just basic shapes. The colors of the water and the sky are often blend into one another or they are in sharp contract.



Overall I'm really glad that I got to catch this exhibit while it was still around. Today was the last day and BAM! I was there. I just wish that they had some postcards or something on sale there. I totally would have bought some, framed them and put them up in my room.