Written by Sophia Lapres

Ian Wallace’s large scale photographic works explore the intersection between the mediums of painting and photography. His works feature both photographic and painted moments, but what is the primary medium of these works? Most of the canvases’ surface is dedicated to the photograph— the coloured bars read more as addendum. Interestingly, Wallace refers to these large scale works as paintings, explicitly defining these works as more than pure photography. This exploration of the intersection of the two mediums is cited again and again as integral to Wallace’s career but it was not until recently that I began to fully appreciate the concept. The investigation of intersections is especially apparent and succinctly explored in La Piscina, Valencia (1990). It is through a collection of influences drawn from the tradition of painting that Wallace’s practice can be understood.

Wallace’s sunbathed photograph reveals a tiled walkway in Valencia, Spain. The work is composed of a photograph laminated on canvas and bookended with painted monochromes. La Piscina, though titled “the pool” in Spanish, does not provide us with any visual indications of a swimming pool. Yet, the image is convincing of a poolside. I imagine the pool sits slightly to the left of the frame, cropped from view. Wallace’s choice to indicate the subject of the photograph through the title instead of visual representation is an interesting one. Upon the mention of a pool, images of turquoise water and wafts of chlorine swim into your mind’s eye. Despite not visually depicting the pool, the evocation of “pool” in the title is effective in convincing us that the pool lies just out of sight. Guests to the museum point towards darker areas along the tiled walkway and interpret it as water from the pool. These darkened areas could be anything, but the pool is such a familiar setting that the experience of water dripping down your legs and staining the concrete is an easy narrative to apply to the image.

Wallace’s artistic practice has long been influenced by traditional art history, often appropriating previous traditions to establish a link between old and new methods of art making. La Piscina, for example, depicts an arcade space that formally references spaces typical of Italian Renaissance paintings. The early modern period of the Renaissance often featured depictions of deep recessive space, particularly spaces that reference earlier architectural tradition. A resurgence of interest in Greek and Roman antiquity marked the changing visual culture of the period. One of many paintings that feautres this influence is Fra Angelico’s The Annunciation (1437-1446) that draws from classic architecture to inform the environment of the sitters. The two figures of the Virgin Mary and the Angel Gabriel occupy a raised platform, sheltered from the exterior by a roof supported with columns. The covered walkway, or arcade, is a feature of basilicas, common in old Greek and Roman homes and public buildings. Basilicas, in turn, influenced the layout of Catholic churches. Though the Renaissance marked a gradual turn to secularized culture, many early Renaissance paintings featured religious iconography. Therefore, in choosing to depict the traditional space of the arcade instead of a more contemporary architectural space, Wallace directly sets himself within the art historical cannon.

To further situate himself within the tradition of art making and image composition, Wallace’s photographic piece offers a textbook example of one-point perspective. If you follow the lines of the ceiling, floor, and bench, you’ll see that they angle towards the same point. This point of convergence is called the vanishing point, taking its name from the point on the horizon where objects disappear into the distance. The blue vents on the right recede gradually, the planks on the green bench angle towards the vanishing point in perfect parallel with the line of the right wall and the tiled floor’s convergence. The space between the columns shrinks, as do the tiles on the floor themselves. This mathematically derived method of depicting space is again a tradition originating in the Renaissance period. Fra Angelico’s The Annunciation employs this illusionistic tactic feigning deep space. The space between each column on the left shrinks gradually towards the vanishing point, just as the space between each column shrinks with distance in La Piscina. The work reads like a window opening into the space of the arcade passageway. Wallace has created a convincing space in terms of depth— the image reads like a space that one could walk into despite its presentation on the flat surface of a canvas.

Although Wallace and his peers were all engaged in the exploration of large scale photography, Wallace was the only member of the Vancouver School that used canvas to mount his photographs. His contemporaries used light boxes, C-prints, and billboards, but Wallace chose to use a material with significant history, intentionally continuing this tradition into his contemporary practice. The canvas’ grainy material textures the entire surface, creating a unifying effect between the planes of the painted panels and the photolaminate. Because the surface is the same texture across the entire image, the boundaries between photograph and painting are blurred through this textural consistency. The grain of the canvas and the graininess of the photographic image mimic one another. Wallace’s photographs are taken using a handheld camera, he does not use an elaborate set up, or even a tripod. As a result of this his photographs often become blurred and softened when blown up. Instead of detracting from the image’s visual aesthetic, this grainy effect enhances the image. The softness of the image and the pastel colour scheme give the photograph a painterly quality.

Wallace’s photographs are always accompanied by painted monochrome sections and La Piscina is no exception. La Piscina, in my mind, presents the most visually successful use of this formula in the rennie museum exhibition. The yellow and white in the photograph are repeated both in colour and form in the monochrome bars. The yellow paint matches the yellows present in the photograph, found both in the monochrome behind the glass and the buckets on the floor at the end of the passageway. The white monochrome parallels the columns and the white painted monochromes behind the glass. These visual pairings of colour and shape blur the boundaries of the photographic plane, creating a continuation of image into the painted monochrome segments. Through the application of paint in a solid bar to the surface of the canvas, Wallace paints, but only in the most fundamental sense. Painting is in essence the application of colour to a surface, therefore, Wallace’s monochromes act as symbolic gestures for painting. This element of Wallace’s practice is the most literal aspect of the intersection between the mediums of painting and photography.

With regards to the monochrome bars on the far wall: they were neither installed by Wallace, nor did they inspire him to begin painting monochrome bars. I would think that it was the presence of these monochromes that drove Wallace to photograph the space. The visual harmony between the various greens and yellows, paired with the monochrome’s import to his artistic practice was likely fascinating to encounter. To be met with a fundamental aspect of his practice, photograph it, and repeat these monochromes himself within the finished work creates a self-reflexivity within La Piscina. This self-reflexivity is beautifully allegorized in Wallace’s silhouetted reflection in the glass.

Wallace’s understanding of previous painterly practices and traditions paired with his use of material and subject matter allows for a work of art that is self-aware. Through the visual references to Italian Renaissance art, the photograph continues the practice of representation into a contemporary field. This, paired with Wallace’s repetition of the monochrome bars captured through the lens of his camera not only serves to successfully create an intersection between painting and photography but also solidify his practice within art history.