LOT 01 - Jack Bishop

Mayberry Fine Art

Title: We'll make them turn their head every place we go

Dimensions: 16" x 20"

Medium: Oil and acrylic on canvas

Date: 2024

Jack Bishop (b. 1983) is a contemporary artist living and working in Halifax (Kjipuktuk). He is best known for his paintings depicting Canadian landscapes; with recurring themes of consumerism, highways, business parks and urban sprawl. Jack was born in Saint John NB and grew up in Quispamsis NB. He received a BFA from NSCAD University in 2007. Over the last 4 years Jack has shown his “Road Trip Playlist” series across Canada with solo exhibitions in Halifax, Toronto, Calgary and Winnipeg as well as being included in the 3 person exhibition “JIM” at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. Jack has received creation grants from Arts NB, Arts NS, and the Canada Council for the Arts. He is a past recipient of ArtsNB’s Emerging Artist of the year award, as well as the Beaverbrook’s Studio Watch Exhibition Series. His paintings are included in several public and private collections across Canada and the USA, and have been featured in The National Post, Visual Arts News, Billie Magazine, The Globe & Mail, The Coast, The Chronicle Herald, The Telegraph Journal, in photo essays on CBC.ca and on the CBC Arts program “Exhibitionists”. Artist Statement: I have developed a sense of romanticism and nostalgia for the Trans Canada Highway and for years have used it as recurrent subject matter in my paintings. The openness of the skyline along the highway and it’s segments of scrubby foliage have become the mise-en-scène of my paintings, the sort of “nowhere” typical to the outskirts of North American cities. “Road Trip Playlist” is an ongoing series of family portraits inspired by years of my wife, dog and I regularly travelling between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The focus of the figures inside the car rather than the landscape itself being driven through has given the work an internalized sensibility, like a repeated motif; a sort of jumping off point into colour exploration and abstraction. Channeling some favourite music for inspiration, I often appropriate song lyrics to title paintings after as a way to invest a more personal sense of meaning into the work and also a pop culture reference that is relatable. I like to think about the paintings like different music tracks while coasting down the highway on a road trip. Jack Bishop 2024