LUKE PAINTER

lukepainter.ca

Luke Painter is an artist, educator and researcher living and working in Toronto. Over the past few years his artistic practice has taken on a number of approaches to print, painting, installation and new media. The latest works have been large-scale paintings rendered with India ink and brush on paper that resemble particular tropes of traditional wood engravings. These fictional landscapes and figure pieces enlarge and re-contextualize these tropes to create surreal outdoor spaces or ornamental busts of historical looking individuals. With the lack of human presence these vast manmade looking mountainscapes and vacated wood areas create an unsettling sense of eeriness and loneliness. The repetition, use of ornament and laborious aspect of mark-making within the works is important for referencing this traditional use of woodblock.

Recent exhibitions of his work include numerous exhibitions throughout Toronto, and Par Nature at Bonneau-Samames Art Contemporain in Marseille, France (solo 2009), Pulse New York Art Fair (2009), Portland Documentary and Experimental Film Festival (2009) and the Athina Art Fair in Greece (2009). Luke has received numerous research and artist grants from Hexagram/Concordia, Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council. His work has been reviewed by many notable publications including: Canadian Art, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Now Magazine, Mix Magazine and has recently been included in Carte Blanche Vol 2 – Painting, a national survey of Canadian painters.