At the end of February, we will see the opening of an exhibition of my latest paintings in Los Angeles at the Billis Williams Gallery. I have been working on tiny details for months now.
The subjects will be familiar to anyone who has seen my work before. Perhaps this time, you will catch new groupings of subjects with more contrast and depth in the lighting.
In a word, the theme of this body of work would be Memory.
I will share more of the new paintings in the coming weeks.
New work has just arrived in Miami for the upcoming art fair season. I sent two new bubble gum paintings to be shown with the George Billis Gallery. The Red Dot Fair runs from December 6–10.
Who doesn’t love a big colourful bubblegum machine?
And so again, I have entered the quiet, busy painting phase as I work toward an upcoming exhibition in Los Angeles for late February 2024.
Everything is framed and shipped to the George Billis Gallery. As I write this, many paintings are in transit, somewhere in the middle of the continent and scheduled to arrive at the gallery in New York on Monday morning.
When the paintings are in transit, I suffer from mild anxiety. It has happened a few times when the heavy-duty packaging has arrived damaged, and I dread to think of how it happens. But 9 times out of 10, everything goes as expected.
The show goes up on the gallery walls on October 3, and the reception is on Thursday, October 5, from 6pm – 8pm.
I just completed a series of three paintings for my upcoming exhibition in New York City. Three birds-eye view typewriters.
I love painting the mechanical components of the machines.
There will always be something charming and delightful in typewriters. Each piece is 2 feet tall and three feet wide. The typewriters are all depicted as life-size. My goal with these paintings is to have a viewer almost get a sense of being able to touch and use the typewriters.
When I start each painting, it never fails that I end up slightly overwhelmed at the number of keys I’ve locked myself into painting. I once told someone that my ability to sit quietly and do something as tedious as painting 150 tiny circles and squares is probably the key to why I can paint as much as I do.
I have been working in the studio every day for the past three months. Well, I did take four days off to visit with family, but I made up for lost time by working in the evenings because I have an upcoming exhibition in New York City with the George Billis Gallery. The show goes up on October 3, and I have just sent the first batch off to the framers. I’m down to the wire finishing up the last few pieces before I can officially relax and come up for air.
In a few weeks, I’ll share the new paintings. This one here won’t be part of the show. It’s already on its way to a collector in New Jersey, as it was sold before it even went to the gallery.
I am participating in two group exhibitions this month — the first up is with the George Billis Gallery, a show featuring gallery artists in Manhattan. My contribution is shown here in the gallery window.
And quickly followed by this exhibition is the same typewriter composed face-in instead of birds-eye with the Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, North Carolina.
This invitational exhibition features study paintings shown alongside the fully realized larger version. The Robert Lange Studios always have interesting ideas for exhibitions.
This piece will be shown at the Red Dot Miami art fair with the George Billis Gallery from November 30 — December 4.
I am happy to share the news that I will be exhibiting some new paintings in New York City — the paintings go up from May 24 to June 11, 2022. The George Billis Gallery has a space at The High Line Nine Gallery at 507 West 27th Street for the summer.
If you are familiar with my work and have been following the progress for some time, you’ll see a new direction in some of the paintings. It would be about 14 or 15 years ago that I painted in “black” — and I have to say that I find it refreshing to take my favourite subjects and breath new life into them.
After several months of steady work, I have completed 22 new paintings that I have started shipping to the George Billis Gallery in Los Angeles for my upcoming solo exhibition that goes up on February 26 and runs through March 26. So you’ll be reading and seeing plenty from me now that the hard work is done.
I have been painting still life for over twenty years now. So much of what I do is honestly about making a balanced, crisp, clean composition of objects to entice the simple act of observation. I use the opportunity to paint to make something delightful and pleasing. Not only for myself but for other people to enjoy as well. I have always drawn my inspiration from the long-established still-life painting tradition, which was first introduced in the form we know today by the French painter Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin in the 18th century.
I could take a deep dive into the significance of Charin’s paintings to the world we live in, not just in art, but in all things, but I’ll spare you for now.
Instead, I want to show how I draw inspiration and remix the visuals he introduced centuries ago. His painting depicts “the attributes of the arts” — his palette and brushes on top of a box of paints, a plaster cast used to practice drawing, books with instructions and inspiration, and an award given to him for his accomplishments.
In my work, I use the propped books as Chardin did, but I have pencil crayons. Specifically, they are Laurentien pencil crayons which are an iconic part of a Canadian child’s early school experience. These were my introduction to the possibilities of art-making. My work is high-key (bright and airy) compared to the dark and shadowed Chardin visual world.
And here is the painting, varnished, framed and ready to ship to Los Angeles. Shown here along with another smaller painting (Trophy / 16 x 12 inches / oil on canvas / 2021) which is my nod to the rewarding life that painting has given me.
Imagine my delight when I walked into the York Art Gallery in England and saw my paintings hanging in the Aesthetica Art Prize 2020 exhibition. Amongst numerous conceptual installations, photographs and television screens all over the walls, there they were… my paintings.
The editor of Aesthetica is able to see the connections and she was able to instantly tune in to how my paintings act as a bridge to the contemporary art scene with what clearly are traditionally executed paintings.
I spent many years studying contemporary art. I majored in photography at university and I’m comfortable when surrounded by conceptual installations — in fact, I myself have produced many. In forthcoming posts, I will explain precisely what my intentions are with my paintings, but for now, enjoy these few photographs of the installation at the York Art Gallery by photographer Jim Poyner.
Leading up to March 13 opening of the exhibition in York, England was obviously a confusing situation. In my part of the world, everything was already entering COVID-19 shut-down, but the United Kingdom maintained the status quo and everything was set to go ahead as planned. I had the strongest feelings that I was getting my England excursion just under the wire. It turned out exactly as I had anticipated with the added anxiety about supposed travel bans and being trapped forever and far away from my family. It didn’t turn out that way. My travel days were fine, I enjoyed a free upgrade to a more comfortable seat as I flew home over the Atlantic. I am now in the midst of a self-quarantine along with millions and millions of others.
To be very honest, little has changed in my daily life. For a decade I have set myself up in my studio for months on end to concentrate on painting. Audiobooks, podcasts, music, streaming radio from around the world — I never feel isolated or alone. I know this is true of my fellow artists and has been true of artists for millennia.
So wherever you are, I hope you’re well, I hope you’re coping, I hope this passes soon and we can get a grip on what it all means.
I have a commission I’m working on, as well as several new paintings for a planned exhibition in New York City this coming September. We shall see how this pans out. Whatever the case is, I’m positive I’ll have a body of work I’m proud of in a few short months.