Alex Colville is renowned for transforming everyday scenes into compelling compositions filled with subtle unease. His painting Target Pistol and Man captures a still moment that leaves the viewer with intrigue—there is a quiet stillness, but also a palpable tension. This painting inspired me to reimagine mundane moments in my life as paintings that tell a narrative. In my piece, I depict three self-portraits sitting around a bed playing cards. At first glance, it is a calm, intimate moment, but similar to Colville’s work, an underlying tension permeates. The card game represents the internal struggles we navigate, while the multiple clones reflect the different parts of our psyche in conflict with one another. By transforming a quiet moment of self-reflection into a cinematic composition, I aim to unveil the hidden depth within ordinary experiences, where stillness and tension coexist.

–Winston Li (Grade 12, Lord Byng Secondary School, Vancouver, British Columbia)

Imbued with a unique emotional intensity, East Coast artist Alex Colville’s (1920–2013) images of figures and faces are both restrained and revealing.