John Wilkinson
Painting
West Gallery

Toronto Artist

PRESS
RELEASE

This exhibition by Toronto artist John Wilkinson features a series of recent, large scale paintings concerned with the interior spaces of the artist's studio. Through the study of light and atmosphere, his personal space is explored by the manipulation of the painterly surface. Colour seen is adapted and rendered across the surface to depict open and closed doorways set within the perspective interiors. Between the painter and the subject exists the pictorial frame; added to this are the intuitive gestures of an expressive personal vision for the viewer to stand before and contemplate.

John Wilkinson was born in South East England. From 1960 to 1964 he studied at the Medway College of Art, and from 1964 to 1968, he attended the Royal Academy Schools. John Wilkinson initially came to Canada in 1967 on a travelling scholarship. He has lived in Canada periodically since 1971, becoming a Canadian citizen in 1978. He has participated in group and solo exhibitions in Britain, Europe and Canada, and his work is represented in various private and public collections. John Wilkinson has taught in various institutions, and is currently teaching at York University and the Dundas Valley School of Art.