tracy root  contemporary fine artist

 

Tracy Root is an observer, a critic and a narrator. Her role, first and foremost, is to visually enhance and emotionally touch the lives of others. If one person can rethink her idea of beauty, reconsider an opinion, avoid making a swift judgement, or gain a deeper understanding or awareness, she has done what she intended.

 

"I believe as an artist we should always be evolving both on the canvas and in our perceptions of the life and natural world surrounding us."

 

Root's palette is very important and the use of colour is a strong component in her style. She rarely uses black. Instead, she blends colours from the primaries with deep, often obvious brushstrokes. She uses hues to connect with and attract viewers, welcoming them to forge deeper into the painting, enveloped in the narrative.

 

Born in Shropshire, England, Root came to Canada in 1966, with her parents and two older sisters. She is one of the more unique contemporary landscape and figurative painters working in Canada today. 

 

Her stylistic influences range from Canadian painters Emily Carr and the Group of Seven to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Early in her career, Root developed a fascination with artistic experience and emotion. She has a deep appreciation for several 19th century painters, such as Van Gogh and members of the Expressionist movement.

 

Root studied Fine Arts at the University of Windsor, honing her technical skills, but it was a decade before her unique style began to emerge during a very solitary and troubled period in her life.

 

This dark period gave birth to very emotionally charged pieces, and gained the attention of the curator at the Thames Art Gallery in Chatham, Ontario. She had her first two-person exhibit at the gallery several months later.

 

Today, Root works full-time out of her studio in London, Ontario. Her work is distinguished by its defiant and somewhat eccentric blending of styles.

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Collectors appreciate her understanding of both nature and the human experience, as well as her keen mastery of colour and form. 

 

Her landscape paintings marry abstract and representational forms to create her unique style, which has won her awards and critical praise. Her figurative paintings venture from the gritty realism of urban life, to the serene peace of man and woman in nature.

 

Tracy is also a muralist, using bold, primary colours and broad, joyful brush strokes on larger than life surfaces.