I became interested in the story of William Kurelek, a well known Canadian artist of Ukrainian heritage, after learning that he had created a painting in 1965 which depicted the Luke 19:1-10 story of Zacchaeus, set in front of St. Stephen’s on-the-Hill United Church in Mississauga where my wife Diane and I attend. I became fascinated by this prolific artist whose work can be roughly categorized into three main styles – surreal concepts based on a fairly pessimistic view of the world, religious depictions of various themes from the bible and finally, and most popular of all, simple folk art style depictions of farm life or youthful pursuits, often assembled into books for young readers. Following are the results of my research on the life and art of this fascinating and very complex man.
