Artist PATERSON EWEN (CANADIAN, 1925-2002)

298 South St. House Sign

Date1978

Mediumpaint

DimensionsOverall: 50.5 x 76 cm
Thickness: 4 cm

Credit LineGift of Robin Peck, 2011

Object number2011.009.001

Label TextThe original house sign designed for 298 South Street, London, ON, is a secondary work by acclaimed London painter, Paterson Ewen. At the time of its creation, both Peck and Ewen were teaching in the Fine Art Department at the University of Western Ontario. The pair had known each other from an earlier meeting at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and were close friends. According to Peck, "In 1980 I returned to Halifax to teach sculpture at NSCAD. I was going to leave the sign, but Pat insisted that I take it with me. 'Hang on to it,' he said, 'that's how I got my Curnoe.'" He was referring to a similar street number sign that artist Greg Curnoe, a mutual friend, had painted for him and that Pat hung inside the house. The sign was created at the discretion of Ewen, who chose the size, style and colour, using scrap plywood left over from one of his larger paintings. Ewen said he wanted the sign to look like neon, which Peck supposes it does with the street number "298" routed out of the plywood in typical Patterson Ewen fashion. It looks a bit weathered, but this is actually the way Ewen painted it. It was outside on the front of the house at 298 South Street for one year, but always under a porch roof, not exposed to the elements. The resulting sign is in keeping with the widely acclaimed gouged plywood paintings that have become the hallmark of Ewen's artistic practice.

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