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Gordon
Rayner was born in Toronto, 1935. Rayner has been called the “carpenter” of contemporary Canadian art. Many of his greatest works incorporate found objects or materials intermingling with paint creating contemplative and striking works of art. In the early 60’s his work was considered part of the neo-dada movement occurring in Toronto’s art scene.
Gordon Rayner was part of the celebrated Isaacs Gallery stable of artists in Toronto with notable Canadian artists such as Michael Snow, Joyce Wieland, Dennis Burton, Graham Coughtry, John Meredith, Rick Gorman and Robert
Markle.
In the 1960’s Gordon Rayner and his friends would congregate up at Charlie’s Place, a disintegrating hunting lodge on 600 acres bordering the Magnetewan River in northern Ontario. The original owner, Charlie, would bring back every piece of metal and wood that he could find. Rayner would invite his friends Rick Gorman, Robert Markle and Graham Coughtry up to the grounds to relax and experiment with photography, painting, drawing, and mixed media works using the found objects on the site.
Gordon Rayner is one of Canada’s significant veteran contemporary artists. He continues to show his work in Toronto galleries
Solo Exhibitions:
- Isaacs Gallery, Toronto-1961, 1964, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1979, 1981,1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990.
- Blue Barn Gallery, Ottawa-1965
- Art Gallery of Windsor 1973
- Gordon Rayner Retrospective Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa
travelling to London Regional Art Gallery, Rodman Hall, St. Catherines, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Concordia University Art Gallery, Montreal, New Brunswick Museum, St. John, Art Gallery of Memorial University, St. John’s, Nfld, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, N.B, Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, Saskatchewan, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge,
- Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto 1979, 1980
- Constructed Paintings Pax Hutchinson Gallery, New York(1984)
- Moore Gallery, Hamilton 1985
- Gordon Rayner, Constructed Paintings, Concordia Art Gallery, Montreal 1987
- Art Gallery of Peel 1990
- Constructed Paintings, Durham Art Gallery 1990
- Rayner/Coughtry Drabinsky Gallery 1991
- Casa de las Americas Havana, Cuba 1993,
- Evelyn Aimis Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida 1993
- Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto 1993, 1995, 1997
- Recent Paintings and Painted Constructions- Moore Gallery, Toronto 1998-present
Group Exhibitions:
- 6th Biennial of Canadian Painting, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa 1965
- Museum of Modern Art, New York 1967
- Canadian Artists ‘68’, Art Gallery of Ontario 1968
- Coughtry, Rayner, Markle, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (travelling-1968)
- Toronto Painting 1953-65, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (travelling-1972)
- The Artists’ Jazz Band, Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris -1978
- Toronto Painting of the 1960’s, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (travelling 1983,84)
Credits:-
Donnalu Wigmore, Isaac Seen., published by Hart House, University of Toronto
- Joan Murray, The Canadian Encyclopedia, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com
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