If there's something so familiar about Paul Hannon's new oil paintings, it's that most of the urban locations he chooses to depict are corner stores and small businesses that you might otherwise pass without really noticing. Buildings that, through Hannon's brush, transform into snapshots of everyday beauty grounded by our city's neighbourhoods and how we feel about them. Hannon captures these emotions in his streetscapes through careful attention to lighting, both natural and artificial, like the melancholy of the hazy halos that cling to traffic lights in night scenes like "The Intersection II" and "Agricola at Night," or the serenity of dawn in "Morning Shadows" (pictured) but is, perhaps, most striking for me in the nostalgia of "Streetlight" which features the recently closed Cousin's diner on Agricola Street at dusk—a reminder of how quickly life changes, even as you're stopping to look at it.
Paul Hannon: New Work
To December 24, Secord Gallery, 6301 Quinpool Road, 423-6644
