Description
Canada’s most original artist painted his hometown — and nothing else mattered. The Way It Is: The Life of Greg Curnoe by James King is the biography of Greg Curnoe (1936–1992), the central figure of London Regionalism and one of the most distinctive voices in Canadian art.
Curnoe rejected international trends in favour of an intensely personal vision rooted in his hometown of London, Ontario. His brightly coloured paintings celebrated everyday life — his family, his neighbourhood, his beloved bicycles — while his fierce Canadian nationalism made him a cultural provocateur. Beyond painting, he co-founded the experimental noise group the Nihilist Spasm Band and launched publications and galleries that nurtured a generation of regional artists.
Drawing on meticulous research, King — an acclaimed Canadian biographer — traces Curnoe’s journey from local iconoclast to national figure, crowned by a major National Gallery retrospective. When Curnoe died in a bicycle accident in 1992, Canada lost one of its most original artists; this book restores him in full — complex, passionate, utterly authentic.
The Way It Is: The Life of Greg Curnoe by James King is the biography of Greg Curnoe (1936–1992), the Canadian artist who became the central figure of London Regionalism and one of the most distinctive voices in Canadian art.
Curnoe rejected international trends in favour of an intensely personal vision rooted in his hometown of London, Ontario. His brightly coloured paintings celebrated everyday life — his family, his neighbourhood, and his beloved bicycles — while his fierce Canadian nationalism made him a cultural provocateur. Beyond painting, he co-founded the experimental noise group the Nihilist Spasm Band and launched publications and galleries that nurtured a generation of regional artists.
Drawing on meticulous research, King — an acclaimed Canadian biographer — traces Curnoe’s journey from local iconoclast to national figure, whose landmark exhibitions and a major National Gallery retrospective secured his place in art history. When Curnoe died in a bicycle accident in 1992, just days before his 56th birthday, Canada lost one of its most original artists. The Way It Is restores him in full: complex, passionate, and utterly authentic.
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