By Herman
Goodden
Born in the Netherlands in 1955, Gerard Pas contracted polio as an infant.
At the age of 10, while living in London, he was chosen as Timmy, the
Easter Seal poster child for crippled children in Canada.
Until the age of 15, he wore a leather and metal leg brace on his permanently
atrophied left leg, which kept him sidelined from most physical and
social activity.
Such a bewildering childhood, blending a phoney fame with a more all-encompassing
sense of estrangement and deficiency, would have set up anybody for
a life of struggle and pain.
But for someone who was destined to become an artist, that legacy has
proven to be the crucible to which Pas must return again and again.
To go near it is to risk being scalded and crisped by the excruciating
heat, but that is the process that repeatedly produces the pure and
refined gold of Pas' artistic vision.
Pas has been exhibiting since 1977, first as a punk performance artist,
then as a highly accomplished and original painter, draughtsperson and
sculptor, whose work has been hailed in Europe, Africa, the United States
and Canada.
Today, he maintains studios in New York City and London.
His latest exhibition, hEaVEN n eARTh, is being given its premiere at
the Ivey North Gallery of the LRAHM until May 20, when Pas will take
it abroad.
The centrepiece for the show is a set of 12 oil portraits, which Pas
calls The Saints, depicting friends, famous figures and Pas himself,
decked out with a range of prosthetic devices, including crutches, canes,
braces and -- in the case of film star Christopher Reeve, wearing his
Superman costume -- a tracheal ventilator and blow-ability switch that
enables the now-quadriplegic actor to manoeuvre his wheelchair.
Much of the work in this show somewhere features Celtic motifs. Pas
also incorporates myths and religious imagery into the three larger
works that flank The Saints on either side.
These larger works depict climactic moments of precipitous descent from
the stories of Sisyphus and Phaethon. The spectacular Tongues of Fire
comprises more than a hundred, multi-coloured small canvases, which
are themselves laid out in the shape of an enormous flame.
Well worth seeing in person, a prior visit to Pas' very elaborate Web
site (http://www.gerardpas.com/lrahm) will prepare you to get the most
from the experience.
