The return of Tony Vander Park

A recent visitor to the gallery was taking a good hard look at the artwork on display and, pausing at ‘Sweet Light Blue’ by Tony Vander Park, said, “I like that, it’s very Kandinsky.”

Born in 1951 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada to Dutch immigrant farmers, Tony studied Fine Art at York University in Toronto in the late 1970s (he’s a contemporary of Heather Smiley, another artist represented in the gallery). Strongly influenced by abstract expressionism and portrait work, he mastered textured and vibrant portraits as well as played with shapes and colours in his younger works. After graduation, Tony eventually went into business for himself as a furniture designer and manufacturer (with wife Maria) and this has been his raison d’être for the past 41 years.

Recently, with the birth of his granddaughter, he has returned to dabbling with crayons and paints to play with her, and this has sparked a return to serious art with these three paintings. Only two are in the gallery right now due to the size of the larger piece. In his words, Tony said “my approach to abstract painting (which I have always loved akin to rock and roll) was totally revitalized by watching [my granddaughter] Vivi (when she was 1, 2, 3-years old & so on). She worked without fear. I subsequently broke old rules and approached the canvas in a similar way.”