Les Graff: Lanscape As Metaphor - A Retrospective

A farmer's son and Alberta boy through and through, Les Graff was born in Camrose, Alberta in 1936 and graduated from the Alberta College of Art & Design at the age of 23 in 1959. Throughout his career in Alberta's civil service (1960 – 1991) Les produced and exhibited abstract paintings and drawings inspired by his rural upbringing, the Alberta landscape and his memories. However, it was not until his retirement in 1991 that the creation of art finally became the central focus Les's life.

This focus included a regimen of on-site sketching, drawing, oil studies and large-scale paintings, incorporating a unique 'visual vocabulary' inspired by the Alberta landscape. Les's abstract expression of this landscape comes directly from his rural connections, escaping traditional interpretation through the continued development of his own techniques.