Indoor gallery space is enormously expensive. And what of all those people who feel too intimidated to wander into a private exhibit: ‘Do I look like someone who could afford these paintings?’

Well, Victoria has a solution to all of this: an outdoor gallery, staged in a most unintimidating laneway. Commercial Alley Art Gallery – founded in June of 2014 – is supported by the City of Victoria. Artists are selected by jury to show their work and add ‘colour and vitality to the area.’

Each artist can exhibit four brick-mounted panels  – 1.2-metre x 2.4-metre – during their solo show. Now until August of 2019, you’ll see the work of Victoria artist Austin Clay Willis.

‘My four panels work together as one installation,’ Willis says, ‘taking into account the red brick wall by pairing it with bright yellows, pinks, and other colours, as wells as incorporating similar reds within the works themselves. The paintings juxtapose intense, convoluted patches of line and pattern with solid blocks of colour, allowing for the image to play with space and composition in interesting and dynamic ways.’

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Commercial Alley Art Gallery is between Victoria’s Bastion Square and the 500 Block of Yates.

www.creatorsvancouver.com

Header: Scott Rodgerson