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Day Neon (detail), 1953

Abstract painting by Harold Town made of colliding diagonal lines filled with solid areas of colour in mostly red, orange, and green.

Harold Town, Day Neon (detail), 1953, oil on Masonite, 91.1 x 63.5 cm, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa.

Shown in 1955 at the second Painters Eleven group exhibition, Day Neon offers an exuberant display of linear drawing with the painter’s brush. Town’s method of allowing forms to emerge through drawing is similar to the Surrealist automatism practised by the Automatistes in Montreal in the 1940s, and by New York painters Arshile Gorky (1904–1948), Jackson Pollock (1912–1956), and Willem de Kooning (1904–1997). As well, the colliding diagonals and sense of continuous movement recall the visual language of the action comics featuring Captain Marvel and Minute-Man that Town loved during boyhood.

Gallery

Abstract painting by Harold Town made of colliding diagonal lines filled with solid areas of colour in mostly red, orange, and green.

Day Neon (detail), 1953

Mixed-media collage by Harold Town featuring materials including peg board, paper labels, and an Oriental fan, with red, blue, and yellow paint dribbled down the composition.

Music Behind, 1958–59

Sparse brush and ink drawing by Harold Town of a panther attacking a naked man who is seen from behind. An empty birdcage is to the left of the figures with the bird hovering above them.

Bacchante Threatened by a Panther, 1959

Abstract painting by Harold Town made up of black, white, blue, and red framing elements around a solid yellow centre.

Inoutscape, 1960

Abstract painting by Harold Town with grey diagonal shapes in front of a dark background filled with a subtle pattern of small circles and dots.

Tyranny of the Corner (Sashay Set), 1962

Abstract painting by Harold Town with a dark background featuring nebulae made up of dashes and waves and a foreground of repeating orange discs and light yellow lines.

Festival, 1965

Abstract painting by Harold Town with a textured background of vertical and horizontal lines overlaid with blue and red circles and a central irregular shape.

Snap No. 17, 1972–73

Painting by Harold Town of a galloping horse made up of abstract geometric shapes that evoke machinery. A solid orange background surrounds the horse.

Toy Horse No. 184, 1979

Abstract painting by Harold Town of a man wearing a bright striped coat sitting at a desk and writing. The desk is on top of a larger dining table, surrounded by tall chairs, and a dog sleeps underneath. An abstract red shape is seen in the background.

Spengler Writing The Decline of the West at His Desk on Top of the Kitchen Table, 1980

Abstract painting by Harold Town made of colliding diagonal lines filled with solid areas of colour in mostly red, orange, and green.

Day Neon (detail), 1953

Mixed-media collage by Harold Town featuring materials including peg board, paper labels, and an Oriental fan, with red, blue, and yellow paint dribbled down the composition.

Music Behind, 1958–59

Sparse brush and ink drawing by Harold Town of a panther attacking a naked man who is seen from behind. An empty birdcage is to the left of the figures with the bird hovering above them.

Bacchante Threatened by a Panther, 1959

Abstract painting by Harold Town made up of black, white, blue, and red framing elements around a solid yellow centre.

Inoutscape, 1960

Abstract painting by Harold Town with grey diagonal shapes in front of a dark background filled with a subtle pattern of small circles and dots.

Tyranny of the Corner (Sashay Set), 1962

Abstract painting by Harold Town with a dark background featuring nebulae made up of dashes and waves and a foreground of repeating orange discs and light yellow lines.

Festival, 1965

Abstract painting by Harold Town with a textured background of vertical and horizontal lines overlaid with blue and red circles and a central irregular shape.

Snap No. 17, 1972–73

Painting by Harold Town of a galloping horse made up of abstract geometric shapes that evoke machinery. A solid orange background surrounds the horse.

Toy Horse No. 184, 1979

Abstract painting by Harold Town of a man wearing a bright striped coat sitting at a desk and writing. The desk is on top of a larger dining table, surrounded by tall chairs, and a dog sleeps underneath. An abstract red shape is seen in the background.

Spengler Writing The Decline of the West at His Desk on Top of the Kitchen Table, 1980