Rock No. 2

Rock No. 2 is part of the first wave of works from the series Paysages, produced by Charles Gagnon in 1960. This group is characterized by predominantly brown, beige, cream, pale-yellow, and grey tones dominated by a strongly expressionistic touch. They feature “natural scenes which sometimes include buildings or other man-made things [such as the handgun in this particular work], the whole being viewed from a fairly long distance; no human figures are included.” The uneven surface, like an abandoned lot viewed from above, depicts the scene of a crime and is divided into two main areas: a brownish square, interrupted on one side by the frame’s edge, sits against a grey background, as in his Wall Paintings. A row of white vertical marks stand like fence posts, while a long black band ends in a splash like a target that has just been hit.