Jack in the Green

Studio Tour 2014

Come out to downtown Waterloo this weekend for some great art and good times! Lots of original art for sale. Hope to see you there!

Preludes and Nocturnes

The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes
comic review

A book review in comic form...this is one of Neill Gaiman's The Samdman volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes. The drawing style is very much inspired by Alan E Cober, a fantastic artist/illustrator but also by the feeling evoked in the book.

Seen and Seen Again

acrylic on canvas, 2014

    The focus of tourist photos is generally on those aspects of a place that are deemed worthy of tourism; a monument, place or object becomes depicted over multiple times with the composites within this space creating the difference, these images are shared through digital media and repeated, copied and reproduced.

    Working from digitally layered images, I want to translate “tourist” images of multiple sources into a single image through a painting. Referencing the article “In Defense of the Poor Image” by Hito Steyerl, I’m interested in the concept of image sharing as a way to retrieve the power of the image and to equalize the separate classes–poor images are “images that can be made and seen by the many.” Using some of my own travel photos in combination with those found on the internet, I create an image that coalesces separate times, perspectives and sources into a single image, unified through the painted medium.

Reading Material

Someone told me today, "I'm kind of between books right now." I'm not entirely sure what that means so here's some of what I've been reading lately. Details after the jump...

Inspired by: Alan E. Cober

Illustration from The Dark is Rising

Lately I have been working more in pen & ink, sketching and doodling than in painting and Alan E. Cober is one of those artists who I've been looking to for inspiration in terms of the many possibilities open to the medium. I was introduced to him through his fantastic illustrations for Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising, but his creations extend far beyond his work for books (he also illustrated Beowulf). His unique style bridges the enforced gaps that occurred between fine art and illustration and he was an advocate for the acceptance of these new values in illustration. Much more detail can be read on him at the society of illustrators page.

And Where Now?

"And Where Now?" oil on canvas, 2014

GradEx

Ontario College of Art and Design annual Grad Exhibition–lots of fantastic art to experience! From Thursday 6.30pm ending on Sunday at 5pm. I will be participating in the show, hope to see you there!

End of the Line

Final thesis critique display.

Green Man

"Green Man" oil on canvas, 2014

Gallery Visit: Misled by Nature at the MOCCA

The current exhibition on at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art takes its inspiration from aspects of the Baroque period–its material excess, theatricality and constructed immersive environments among others. Misled by Nature: Contemporary Art and the Baroque is most obviously an homage to these ideals in the three massive, overwhelming works that occupy the main space at MOCCA.

Tricia Middleton "Embracing oblivion
and ruin is the only way to live now" 2012

Tricia Middleton's glitter covered, waxy, igloo-like structure is an attention stealing presence at first sight.

Walking through the construction allows one to gaze up at the perilously supported roof. The influence of the Baroque is evident in the vast amount of detail and ornamentation that is encompassed in and upon the building from wax covered roses emerging from the walls to delicate crystals that hang from the branches around the doorway. There are a multitude of discoveries to be made amongst the sometimes haphazard piles of material.

David Altmejd's The Holes is another massive sculptural installation that shows two giant sasquatch-like figures lying within a landscape of trees, flowers and mirrored crystal forms. The huge figures are ripped open with their internal organs surrounding them. There is a sense of mystery in their situation–are they decaying back into the ground? have they just emerged? or are they slowly being reassembled?–but overall it is a convoluted picture that tells many different stories. 

Lee Bul "After Bruno Taur" 2008

Lee Bul's seemingly delicate mass of suspended chains, jewellery and metal forms a floating city that is reflected in the mirrored floor below. It's less haphazard than the other two works in the space and the metalwork and jewellery give an interesting contrast to the more organic installations.

More than a celebration of the Baroque, Misled By Nature emphasizes the contrasts and intersections in nature and culture through vastly different viewpoints. Seen together, these artworks invite considerations of the places we inhabit and the different ways we interact with aspects of both nature and city spaces. 

Misled by Nature is on until April 6 at the MOCCA.

Sentinel

"Sentinel" oil on canvas, 2014

Away

"Away" oil on canvas, 2014

Reading Material

            A collection of some of the books I have been skimming, reading, or conducting in depth analysis on recently.

Wide Sargasso Sea

acrylic on canvas, 2014

"I hated the mountains and the hills, the rivers and the rain. I hated the sunsets of whatever colour, I hated its beauty and its magic and the secret I would never know. I hated its indifference and the cruelty which was part of its loveliness. Above all I hated her. For she belonged to the magic and the loveliness. She had left me thirsty and all my life would be thirst and longing for what I had lost before I found it..."

–Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

Songs for a winter's night

Songs for a winters night. from 1windowbird on 8tracks Radio.

Altered book art by Su Blackwell.

Long Ago and Far Away

"Long Ago and Far Away" encaustic on panel, 2014

Tread Softly

"Circles of Stone" oil on canvas, 2013

Thesis

"The Faery Tree" oil on canvas 2013

Over the past few months I have been working on my final year thesis project. Art school requires slightly different criteria then most thesis output and in this case the goal is to produce a cohesive body of art work along with the research to back it up. 

Over the past summer, I spent much of it travelling around various parts of Ireland, and this trip is what is inspiring my current projects.

I seek to interpret humanity’s mark on nature through a historical and mythological lens. Throughout my experiences in travelling through Ireland I have reconsidered my own relationship to nature. Ireland is a country that is full of myths and memories. The evidence of this is present in its landscapes from the crumbling ruins and ancient stone circles, to the ribbons tied around the branches of a “faery tree.” These narratives become an integral part of land and in becoming aware of these stories become a part of our perception of the land.

I've been meaning to call you

I've been meaning to call you... from 1windowbird on 8tracks Radio.