Robert Wiens

White Pine, 2001
watercolor on paper
90" x 42"
Courtesy of Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

Robert Wiens paints life-size tree portraits of trees from Temagami Forest in Northern Ontario, Canada. These impressively large watercolor paintings on paper (90" x 42") have a one-to-one relationship with actual tree bark. Wiens begins the process with close observation of the 300-year-old trees. The paintings are both documentary and personal, given the many choices the artist makes to “replicate” the bark. This series of paintings originated with sculptures that documented tree bark. The pair, exhibited here, hints at the grandeur of the Temagami Forest.

Wiens’ solo exhibitions, include Great Lakes at the York Quay Gallery in Toronto, Canada (2001), Verdure at the Dunlop Art Gallery in Regina, Canada (2000) and a show at the Susan Hobbs Gallery in Toronto, Canada (2000).  His group exhibitions include The Hand at The Power Plant in Toronto, Canada in 1999 and Wood at the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery in Owen Sound, Canada (1998).  Wiens received a commission from the MacDonald Stewart Art Centre in Guelph, Canada, and he studied at the New School of Art in Toronto.