“Quarter Mile of Clothesline” exemplifies Ferguson’s conceptual, task-driven approach to painting. This late work is taken from a series of frottage paintings: the artist brushed black enamel paint onto the canvas laid over a quarter-mile long looping coil of clothesline.

Invited to teach at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design (NSCAD) in Halifax, Gerald Ferguson moved to Canada in 1968. He retired from NSCAD in 2006, having significantly influenced late-twentieth century Canadian art through his practice and pedagogy. Solo exhibitions of Ferguson’s work were held at Dalhousie Art Gallery in 1970, 1977, 1984 and 1995, the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1977, the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1994, the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 2002 and the National Gallery of Canada in 1999-2000. His work is found in numerous public and private collections in Canada and abroad, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Museum Sztuki in Lodz, Poland.