Turning 3D to 0D
Stacey Dewolfe, Montreal Mirror, October 15, 2009

All manner of theatre-related quotes (Shakespeare, Ibsen, Rush’s “Limelight”) come to mind when thinking about the work of Halifax-based painter Daniel Hutchinson, whose show Zero Dimensions opens this evening, Thursday, Oct. 15 at Push Gallery (5264 St-Laurent).

For the past few years, Hutchinson—who was nominated for the 2009 RBC Painting Competition—has focused on painted reproductions of architectural and theatrical spaces. Though I have yet to see Hutchinson’s work in the flesh, a perusal of the artist’s website has built up my anticipation.

Beginning with a series of digitally created 3D renderings of what look to be stage sets, the images are then painstakingly recreated in a painting with exacting precision. Hutchinson uses one directional brushstroke, which give the works a sort of pulsing dynamism, and the resulting interplay of light and dark makes the images glow, as though lit from within.

Depth and perspective are also transformed by the direction of the brushstrokes. As the viewer moves across the image, their relationship with the image is altered, creating a greater sense of the work as an expressive, performative space.