Inspired by the horizons, water scenes, and rolling hills that surround his studio in southeastern Ontario, the contemporary landscapes of Paul Chester are in the tradition of Canada’s impressionists, though tempered by a modern sensibility.  The fleeting, diaphanous vision demonstrates Chester’s extraordinary relationship with nature.  His paintings are hazy, almost dream-like, as if they are dug-up afterthoughts of emotion. 

Various flat fields, swamps, wildflower patches and luminous skies are primarily recalled from memory and the results are suggested landscapes – personal impressions the artist gathers from the many walks he takes in the natural world.  Serene visual representations are often inserted and raised in plywood so that the image can be extended outward onto the wooden surface.  These expanded landscapes often blur as one moves out from the centre, implying a faded, fragmented memory – a glimpse or recall going in and out of focus. 

While powerful evocations of time and place, Chester's paintings are not individually derived from specific locations.  He often amalgamates fragments of recollection - the location of 7pm, for example, seems unidentifiable – an abstracted autumn landscape at dusk.  The location of Place 34 is undermined by the lasting impression of the central image – a crashing tide in the distance, framed in memory by a seemingly endless golden slather of beach.

In his engaging, remarkable windows on the natural world, Paul Chester elucidates his poetic vision and challenges the way the Canadian landscape is captured in art.