Alap, 1967

Yves Gaucher, Alap, 1967, acrylic on canvas, 274.3 x 182.9 cm, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton.
Alap is from Gaucher’s Grey on Grey series. The paintings are all composed as uninflected roller-painted fields of grey across which are dispersed thin longer or shorter lines in white or grey tonalities that run strictly parallel to the upper and lower framing edges. Despite their limited means, the emotional range of the paintings is astonishing. The British critic and curator Bryan Robertson describes them as “possibly the most beautiful and original—and awe-inspiring—paintings I’ve seen anywhere since the advent of Pollock and Rothko.”
Gallery

Asagao, 1961

In Homage to Webern No. 2 (En hommage à Webern n° 2), 1963

Le cercle de grande réserve, 1965

Dusk, Calm, Signals, 1966

Blue Raga, 1967

Alap, 1967

Two Blues, Two Greys, 1976

Jericho 1: An Allusion to Barnett Newman (Une allusion à Barnett Newman), 1978

T.D.S., 1988

B2 + w Ps, 1989–90

Yellow, Blue & Red IV (Jaune, bleu & rouge IV), 1999