"When I begin a painting I
always hope to complete it in a few strokes, starting with the first colors I
daub down anywhere and anyhow. But it never works, so I add more, without realizing
it. I have never wanted to paint thickly paint tubes are much too expensive.
But one way or another, the painting has to be done. When I learn how to paint
better, I will paint less thickly."
Riopelle's style in the 1940s
changed quickly from Surrealism to Lyrical Abstraction (related to abstract
expressionism), in which he used myriad tumultuous cubes and triangles of
multicolored elements, facetted with a palette knife, spatula, or trowel, on
often large canvases to create powerful atmospheres.
The presence of long filaments of
paint in his painting from 1948 through the early 1950s has often been seen as
resulting from a dripping technique like that of Jackson Pollock. Rather, the
creation of such effects came from the act of throwing, with a palette knife or
brush, large quantities of paint onto the stretched canvas (positioned vertically).
Riopelle's voluminous impasto became just as important as color. His oil
painting technique allowed him to paint thick layers, producing peaks and
troughs as copious amounts of paint were applied to the surface of the canvas.
Riopelle, though, claimed that the heavy impasto was unintentional.
When Riopelle started painting,
he would attempt to finish the work in one session, preparing all the color he
needed beforehand: "I would even go as far to say—obviously I don't use a
palette, but the idea of a palette or a selection of colors that is not mine
makes me uncomfortable, because when I work, I can't waste my time searching
for them. It has to work right away."
A third element, range of gloss,
in addition to color and volume, plays a crucial role in Riopelle's oil
paintings. Paints are juxtaposed so that light is reflected off the surface not
just in different directions but with varying intensity, depending on the
naturally occurring gloss finish (he did not varnish his paintings). These
three elements; color, volume, and range of gloss, would form the basis of his
oil painting technique throughout his long and prolific career.
Riopelle was arguably one of the
most important Canadian artists of the 20th century, establishing his
reputation in the burgeoning postwar art scene of Paris, where his entourage
included André Breton, Sam Francis and Samuel Beckett. Riopelle produced over
six thousand works.