Artist’s Statement
My work involves the pursuit of a few different kinds of fidelity. Yes, toward the objects and other subjects, but also toward what appeals to me about those subjects' appearance.
I don't always understand that appeal, but through drawing can attempt to resolve some of that mystery by making it visible; - to myself and to others.
Most often I experience a certain quality of beauty that is difficult to describe through language. Something both present and elusive. Not unlike the nature of love, something strongly and deeply felt. A strong pull, often inexplicable at first sight. Initially, I love what I see, then, as I draw, I start to feel a different but similar affection towards the drawing I'm making.
To me, the closer a drawing captures what I felt toward its subject, the more successful it is.
Hopefully, over time, we learn to know the nature of how we feel, and how best to express it.
Bio
A book and magazine designer for forty years, John has been making art, in various formats, for roughly the same amount of time. He has exhibited work in Toronto, New York, and Moscow. After a 23 year hiatus from exhibiting, while continually producing new work, he now concintrates on graphite drawings, and has recently started exhibiting again.
Also a longtime writer, focused mainly on making poems, he is presently in the final stages of completing a non-fiction book about events in, and just outside of, a Tim Hortons coffee shop, over a five year period.
He lives in the Kensington Market area of Toronto, and has a son.