Renee Van Halm

The Tourist paintings look at architecture as it defines our sense of place and results directly from research done while travelling and living in Europe for the past few years. The images portray sites that are distinct from the familiar landmarks that one identifies as tourist destinations. The subjects are of two sorts: the new signature buildings that have become destinations – architourism, museums and stores mostly, bold signature buildings that exist outside of local economies and geographies and secondly the other modernist structures, unidentifiable, ubiquitous, where people live.

< “The exhibition proceeds from strength to strength, and in so doing, provide vivid commentary on such matters as modernist distinction versus modernist anonymity, the subverting, by means of focus and concentration, of the touristing of architectural meaning and the rising tide of generic design.”

Gary Michael Dault, The Globe and Mail.
Toronto June 10, 2006