The mid-to-late 1950s were groundbreaking years for the Toronto art scene, during which time Michael Snow exhibited at the city's avant garde gallery, Greenwich Gallery, in Toronto's “miniature bohemia.” Snow recalls: “The years 1956-60 were a period of 'try this, try that' in my work, part of which came from attempting to deal with the excitement of New York art. De Kooning, Gorky, Kline, Rothko, Newman and Reinhardt were of special interest to me.” During this short period, the artist produced an important series of “purely surface, abstract paintings” which emerged just prior to the Walking Woman Works.
“Off Minor” was exhibited at the Greenwich Gallery in October 1958 with eight large abstract paintings, a sculpture and several drawings. This show at the gallery on Bay Street was Snow's second solo exhibition. Commenting on this exhibition in “Canadian Art” magazine, Hugo McPherson asserted that the paintings were “the wittiest, most arresting canvases of the season”, praising Snow's style as “alert and nervous – at once conscious of fine shades of meaning and capable of reducing experience to its large, essential outlines.” In “Off Minor” Michael Snow presents heavily applied grounds with vivid blue and green rectangles embedded within. Although he uses a variety of shapes and a rougher application of paint, the composition is remarkably unified. This visible brushwork and surface texture reveal Snow's primary concern for the art-making process.
The sole owner of “Off Minor” was Joseph Gladstone, the brother of Toronto artist Gerald Gladstone. Gerald was one of the artists exhibiting at Avrom Isaacs' gallery in the 1950s. Joseph was a young entrepreneur who staged the exhibition “Toronto '61” at the Toronto Board of Education on College Street in 1961. This modern art exhibition travelled to four North American locations and works by Toronto artists Michael Snow, Jack Bush, Kazuo Nakamura and Harold Town, among others, were on display. Joseph Gladstone acquired this painting directly from Michael Snow in his studio.