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Feb. 17, 2012
Artist is a consummate explorer
Pnina Granirer is continually changing the style and media of her work.
OLGA LIVSHIN
Throughout her artistic journey, Pnina Granirer has always been an explorer. She has never been interested in doing the same thing over and over again. She has changed the style, subject matter and technique of her painting multiple times. And her new show, Imagination Games, which opened Feb. 9 at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery, provides further proof of this lifelong drive to discover untapped layers in the creative universe.
“I’m not interested in doing the same work just because it sells,” Granirer told the Independent in an interview. “I’ve always wanted to explore new directions, because it’s challenging for me. Life is too short to be doing the same things all the time. New ideas rejuvenate the artist.”
While a non-commercial approach strained her relationship with commercial galleries, Granirer’s artistic vision found its way into people’s hearts anyway. As examples, her paintings are part of many important collections, including that of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem; her 12-panel work, “The Trials of Eve,” at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, has been declared cultural property of Canada; and, in 1998, Ted Lindberg published a book commemorating her 40 years in the arts.
Alongside such successes, she considers a much more modest event one of the highlights of her career. “It was in Montreal in 1967,” she explained. “Friends bought my painting and cancelled their vacation because they could not afford both. My art was more important to them than a vacation! Moments like that are memorable and validate the artist’s work.”
People’s relationship with the arts has always been one of Granirer’s passions. An innovator, she consistently has tried to bridge the gap between art and life. That’s why, 20 years ago, inspired by similar open-studio weekends in Paris, France, she and a friend started the annual studio-hopping program Artists in our Midst in Vancouver. The program has been going strong ever since.
Seven years ago, Granirer spearheaded another movement to bring art and people closer together. She started the Philosophers’ Art Café. “I thought there were not enough discussions about the arts in Vancouver,” she recalled. “So, I invited people to talk about the arts. Three times a year, I do a presentation, and then we talk. The interest is high, and all sorts of people come to my presentations. Last time, there were over 30 participants at the café.”
The same desire for change that sparked Granirer’s involvement in the social sphere of the arts influences her ever-evolving creative process. “I work in series,” she explained. “I start with an idea and try to come up with as many different approaches as I can. Sometimes, a series takes a year to complete; sometimes, 10 years or more. When I start to repeat myself, I know it’s time to move on. That’s a scary moment. I always think: what if no new ideas come? But they always do.”
The idea behind the series currently on display at the Zack Gallery was to use photography as a medium for artistic exploration. “Photography has always been an important note-taking tool in my work,” Granirer said. “As a painter, I considered it a secondary activity, used to help me develop new works. I didn’t take my photography seriously: it was too easy.... The change occurred when I photographed the dancers of Ballet B.C. and Kokoro Dancers. I stumbled upon it almost by accident.”
Granirer wanted to concentrate on the image of a dancing couple, but, instead, her camera had captured lots of the background clutter in the rehearsal studio. “It was distracting, so I used paint to block what was unimportant,” she explained. “Then, I realized that, by this simple manipulation, I created a totally new image.... It was almost a god-like feeling. I could change reality. And it was so easy, sometimes I felt guilty about it.”
The final step on Granirer’s road to the Imagination Games show occurred in 2009, when she returned from a trip to Guanajuato, Mexico. She said, “I downloaded the photos into my computer and thought: I could manipulate these images. I could create a whole new world, one that doesn’t exist in reality. I could transform the conventional photos of narrow streets into painterly, abstract compositions and rhythmical shapes, an exercise in imagination.”
She dived fearlessly into the new software on her computer, while she experimented with light and shadows. Out of the mundane streets of an old colonial city, she created surrealistic dreamscapes where colors play hide and seek with the viewer. Sharp angles flow into mystical projections, vibrating with the echoes of other places, some real, some imagined. Strange and familiar intertwine, inspiring a sense of déjà vu.
“Technology is an amazing thing,” Granirer reflected. “Sometimes, it wouldn’t do what I wanted, and I got frustrated. Or, I would click a wrong button and something wonderful would happen. The process is joyful, almost playful. It gives one so much creative freedom. But there could be troubles too, when there are too many choices.... I thrive on the sense of adventure that comes with the feeling that there is always something unusual to discover and explore. This body of digital photographs takes me to totally new worlds and opens up an exciting new way of creating.”
Imagination Games will be on display until March 4.
Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
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