the joy of art : part one

MAY 2007

Seeing Vancouver is like feeling summer rain coming down on you.  Everything is green, alive, clean. Visually, it pleases. Here’s what I mean:

Granville Island view

sails

One thing is evident, Vancouver loves art.

Walking through South Granville’s gallery row, we found the Diane Farris Gallery.  — recognized in Vancouver and the world for contemporary art, and more importantly, for discovering emerging artists.

Immediately, we were blown away by the large-scale oil paintings of Nick Lepard. A young artist (25 years old) who was still attending Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design at that time. 

photo from Diane Farris Gallery

photo by A

From Milan to Vienna

Nick had a few paintings available for sale. But we wanted this particular piece, titled “From Milan to Vienna” — A self-portrait of the artist. 

Turned out, it was sold earlier, and was only sitting at the gallery awaiting delivery to the buyer. The other paintings were equally beautiful. However, in buying art, you have to pick the one that really grabs you.

We went home with nothing but a promise from the gallery’s director. We will be notified when Nick’s new work become available, and we will have the right of first refusal. 

In May this year, we got the call from Diane Farris herself. Not only has Nick worked on new paintings, he was also going to have his first solo exhibition. 

True to their word, Diane sent the images of the paintings and drawings to us before the general mail-out for everyone else was done.

Whenever you want to purchase an original piece, it is important to work with a reputable dealer. We were very pleased with Diane and her staff. After exchanging emails and phone calls within the next few days, we became the proud owner of one of Nick Lepard’s paintings. 

The story will continue next post. Meanwhile, you may want to see his new paintings and make a guess on which one arrived at our doorstep yesterday.