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Cities in Motion: Paintings by Murray van Halem                                                Review by Wendy Rofihe

Murray Van Halem claims he doesn't mind being stuck in traffic. Instead of fuming in frustration, he surveys the surroundings for scenes later translated into oil paintings. The exhibition Cities in Motion, at the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts, is based on these scenes.

One of the smaller works, "King Street, Hamilton" will be familiar to many in the city, with red taillights and green traffic lights shining between the corridor of building walls, the street's distant end vanishing out of sight. In another Hamilton scene, people leave their vehicles and pass through the parking lot eagerly approaching Gage Park's inviting canopy of abstract, multi-coloured trees.

Trained as a photographer with an impulse for visual composition, as a painter Van Halem transforms the views from a car window or sidewalk and fills them with striking colour combinations. They are bright with daylight and urban night light, always conveying his enjoyment showing viewers an interpretation of something they may have missed in the rush of daily life.

The streets of Toronto are in many of the pictures, often with a ubiquitous streetcar figuring prominently. A more typical take might use an old-style Red Rocket for nostalgic appeal. These paintings, without relying on hard-edge realism, or more modern abstraction, are resolutely more interested in right now than the past. Van Halem's streetcars are the same ones we board today, sitting beside yellow cabs jamming never-ending blocks of gridlock.

The night scene "Yonge Street" moves faster, its black pavement shining with reflections of the buildings beside it. Splashes of red evoke more sinister elements on the storied strip. Its companion "Zanzibar Tavern" is perhaps even later at night on the same strip, the darkly illuminated street dissolving into a blur while the ever-present taxi lights still shine.

Not all the pictures in Cities in Motion are actually in motion – the empty rail tracks in the large square canvas "The Blue Hour" turn towards nowhere, carrying a train that's either moved on or yet to come. In a still larger painting, the geometric structure of the "Burlington Lift Bridge" is the focal point. The painter is again likely watching patiently from the car as the bridge deck lowers back into place after a lake freighter has passed underneath, enjoying the pattern of zig-zagging beams reflecting the sun.

Van Halem's admiration of Edward Hopper is more evident in these less mobile subjects than the lively street scenes. It's also in the pictures of ships berthed at docks, another mode of transport featured in the show. They are looming, immobile blocks of colour, like the massive red hull of "CSL Atlantic Huron in Winter", surrounded with a gorgeous pink and orange sky. Its powerful stillness dwarfs the lone tiny human beside it, securing the giant vessel with an impossibly thin rope. At Toronto's "Sugar Beach", chatting women under umbrellas bask in a warm day, seemingly oblivious to the huge green iron ship that's behind them, instead of the sky.

Cities in Motion runs from February 16 to April 6, 2024.