His Medium

His Process…

At one point in his practice, Ron Fortier explored historical episodes of social injustice. The emotional toll of the subject matter forced him to abandon the genre. He then shifted his concentration to abstract expressionism intending it to be for a short while.

It was, instead, a period of several decades. During the pandemic in late 2019, he began a painting series based on a family story about an enslaved ancestor whose daughters were sold away from her. 

Inspired by Phillip Guston, Ron returned to the objective narrative as a socially conscious expressionist. At one point, while doing a painting of his father called Le Prefere, he incorporated several of the techniques that he employed during his abstract expressionist period. 

These same gestures and mark-making, employed in his new approach, enhanced the emotional and psychological reality he sought to specifically capture in that piece. 

The new approach also offers a deeper understanding of the compositions and narratives he had pursued. Throughout it all, Ron’s preferred medium is acrylic on stretched canvas.