“Often there is a type of tension that exists at night as the number of people on the streets diminish. I want to capture that mood and atmosphere in my paintings.”
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Peter Harris is a Toronto based artist who has explored themes involving the urban landscape in his oil paintings for over 25 years. His obsession with cities and urban life has been a constant in his work and life, as he transitioned from small town living as a child, to living in a mid-sized city as a youth, to finally living and working in the downtown core of Toronto. His work portrays the common elements of the city: parking lots, building, gas stations, restaurants, subways, etc. These often overlooked aspects of the urban environment are presented as an opportunity to re-examine the spaces we inhabit. Painted in a crisp, realist manner, his paintings are recognizable for their depictions of urban settings at night, absent of people. Peter graduated from the University of Waterloo in 1997 with a degree in Fine Arts, and in the years since has exhibited his work in cities across North America, including Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Vancouver and New York City. His work can be found in private collection in Canada, the United States, and Europe.
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My Rating: 8/10
My Rating: 9/10
p.s.
1. Eat Responsibly
Eating locally grown food supports local farmers and merchants in your own community as well as reducing the amount of fuel, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions required to move the food you eat from the farm to your table. Eating responsibly also means eating less meat and fewer animal products such as eggs and dairy products, or perhaps none at all. Eating less meat is a matter of good stewardship of our finite resources. Farm animals emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, and raising animals for food requires many times more land and water than growing food crops.
2. Have Fewer Children
Overpopulation is arguably the world’s most serious environmental problem because it exacerbates all of the others. Planet Earth is a closed system with limited resources—only so much fresh water and clean air and only so many acres of land for growing food. As the world population grows, our finite resources must stretch to serve more and more people. At some point, that will no longer be possible. Some scientists believe we have already passed that point. We need to reverse this growth trend by gradually bringing the human population of our planet back down to a more manageable size. Ultimately, this means more people must decide to have fewer children.