George Rackus

“Colour was my big concern when I first considered the potential possibilities of aluminium as a painting media. The light weight of aluminium, its easy handling, and the fact that it lends itself to constructivist variables, were all good reasons for me to look into the possibilities of this relatively new art material.”

– George Rackus

A painter, lithographer, muralist and tapestry designer, George Rackus pioneered the anodized aluminium technique as an art form. His abstract compositions are characterized by a prevailing sense of organic movement.

Rackus came to Canada at the age of eight and apprenticed during the war in silk-screening. After spending a year at the Ontario College of Art, he went to Paris in 1953, where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and Académie André Lhote, and assisted the cubist painter Lhote with mural-painting. Rackus exhibited his abstract paintings in Montréal in 1960 and in 1964 began experimenting with the anodized aluminium technique.

Since the 1960s, George Rackus has been actively involved in arts associations and as a lecturer, visiting artist, curator and art reviewer. His works have been widely exhibited and collected, both nationally and internationally. They include Earth and Sky and Swan Lake.