PROVENANCE
Isaacs Gallery, Toronto
Collection privée, Toronto
Par filiation à la collection privée actuelle, Toronto

The artwork of William Kurelek is capable of many things: trenchant social commentary and cutting satire; deeply felt religious conviction and apocalyptic vision; an articulation of the resilience of Ukranian-Canadian settlers, and a voicing of an authentic sense of rural prairie life. It is also capable of manifesting something that is equally difficult to capture: child-like whimsy. Like a frozen memory, Kurelek expresses that here, showing children fleeing, concerned but likely laughing, from a flock of enraged geese. The title refers to a scene in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, where after faking his own death at the battle of Shrewsberry, Falstaff prides himself on living another day. This, in many ways, is a quality that underlies much of Kurelek’s work. The artist’s most known painting style is often one of “folksiness” with qualities of seeming naiveté, making it akin to some of “outsider art”. In contrast, however, Kurelek was an artist of technical skill and a draughtsman of considerable ability. Much like its title, this work is classical refinement delivered with a warm smile and a wink.

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