MARIE LANNOO
As an abstract painter, Saskatoon-based MARIE LANNOO has been applying layers of transparent acrylic colour on various support surfaces for more than three decades. Well-known as a conceptually groundbreaking non-objective painter, Lannoo is one of the few artists informed by a substantial knowledge base in both art and science to investigate light as the basis for her colour field paintings.
Lannoo's decision-making in the studio is entirely intuitive with an unfiltered, direct connection to the painting process. She has achieved what many painters strive for throughout their careers, that is, the controlled application of layers of colour that vibrate, pulsate, resonate, and radiate the energy of colour to create sensations of experience in the viewer. Light interacts with Lannoo’s skillfully rendered layers of transparent acrylic to change its luminosity. As the layers interact, the overall illumination of the colours is revealed.
“As I gaze at one of Marie Lannoo’s recent works on canvas, I first become aware of the blank, sometimes coloured centre that is surrounded by vague, blurry coloured borders and then immediately surrounded by sharp edged borders and then a black physical frame. What I really appreciate about this is that I have been informed in this process of observing, that this use of the various framing devices forming a portal, is a deliberate strategy, and yet I am free to return to the centre which had no agenda. This phenomenon is possibly my most valued but rarely happened upon art experience, Agnes Martin, Mark Rothko and now, Marie Lannoo.”
--- Chris Cran RCA
Marie Lannoo was born in Delhi, Ontario. She attended the University of Saskatchewan and studied painting at the Banff School of Arts and at Emma Lake Artists’ Workshops as well as in Virton, Belgium. Her work has been shown in exhibitions throughout Canada and internationally. Moving between abstraction and representation, Lannoo’s paintings exert a potent physiological effect on viewers. Imminent art historian Roald Nasgaard comments: “Lannoo’s work draws the viewer deep into internal illusions replete with reflected invasions from the external world. At the same time, it reaches out to embrace and enfold itself around the body of the viewer, who sees the world as if with eyes in the back of his/her/their head.
Marie Lannoo, Black Hole in Colour 4, 2021, Acrylic on canvas, 16 x 16 x 2 in
Marie Lannoo, Liminal Spaces 4, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 x 1 in
Marie Lannoo, Chimera’s 1, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 20 x 2 in
Marie Lannoo, Mind’s Eye 3, 2021, Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 x 1 in
Maire Lannoo, Essential Nothingness 1, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 14 x 11 x 2 in
Marie Lannoo, Colour in a Polar Vortex 2, 2021, Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 10 in