Bonds that tie John Faul
Statement of intent When I fly fish in the summer, I cast lots more than ever catching a trout. My dream is to catch a bull trout! My work is to cast. I can’t make a fish take the fly. Even those little dry flies I tie with such precision all winter long. I’m just to cast. And cast more. Long hours in the silence of a stream or pond in the Canadian Rockies is where I fly fish. The reason for wanting to show my work is to give and celebrate. I want to be generous and share my creative experiences. I make very deliberate choices about content and art materials. The process and products of art making is deliberate. I’m skeptical about a muse that hints or an authentic voice that whispers. I create because I choose. What may return isn’t up to me. Rewards come from the fact that there’s actually no guarantee. My work is to paint. Paintings will take care of themselves. I just wish for a chance to show.
Artist statement My paintings are visual narratives. There’s no structure as in a story's character or plot developments, for in paintings there’s something else palpable. The raw tactility is the painting's punch. I paint knots. To untie knots can be painful. To resist nots is not easy. I’m painting pain. I paint about the implicit agreements among people. Bonds that tie us in our relationships: Marital bonds. Infidelity bonds. Parental bonds. Ancestral bonds. For many relationships are painful ties and suffocating knots. These paintings are pain things as I comment on tension, like choking, in relationships. The there are sociological bonds that tie as similarities and agreements. Societal bonds that tie as opposites and antipoles. Religious bonds. Ideological constructs. Racism. Safetyism. Genderism. It seems that that these divide and antagonize, yet still binds us. As an individual I’m glued together into a personality of numerous habits. I make choices that confuse, constrict, and somehow direct fate and kismet. A weltanschauung is a delightful and traumatic bond. It’s never static, but coils and twirls in time. These paintings don’t answer anything. But I hope they’ve something to say.
Resistance Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink - 2020
Reciprocity Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink - 2020
Withdrawal Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink - 2020
Compulsion Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink - 2020
Constriction Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink - 2020
Yoke Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink - 2020
Repression Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink - 2020
Regret Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink - 2020
Placenta Painting (60” x 120”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink - 2020
Image list 1. Resistance. Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink. 2020. 2. Reciprocity. Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink. 2020. 3. Withdrawal. Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink. 2020. 4. Compulsion. Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink. 2020. 5. Constriction. Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink. 2020. 6. Yoke. Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink. 2020. 7. Repression. Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink. 2020. 8. Regret. Painting (48” x 72”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink. 2020. 9. Placenta. Painting (60” x 120”) on canvas in acrylic, oil, graphite, and ink. 2020.
Artist Biography I grew up in the hinterland of South Africa, the Karoo – an arid and semidesert area. My dad was a sheep farmer. He died from brain cancer. It was too soon; his life was so unfinished. Afterwards my mom suffered from prolonged and melancholic depression. I was only 8. I was sent to a brown house, a place of scarcity and pain. Night mares and old curry eggs for Sunday dinner at 430pm were my companions. After I graduated from high school I eventually studied medicine. Symptoms always intrigued me. They’re like visitors who bring messages from places beyond. The physical and emotional suffering of others imprinted deep marks on me. I practiced mainly obstetrical care and delivered many babies. What a privilege! As opportunities arose, we emigrated to Canada where I eventually ended practicing family medicine in Calgary for 20 plus years. I also practiced as an expressive arts therapist part time. I continued to study psycho-analytic psychology in my spare time. During my midlife I suffered from my own symptoms of depression. I felt disillusioned, disconnected, and dreadful. Depression ain’t a dandelion. I chose not to be medicated. I started to draw and paint again; my first drawings were when I was 9. What, or rather who, that’s moving from the deeps of my psyche intrigued me. With art making, I found portholes where inner awareness of who is so present is made visible through the language of color, shapes, and forms. I returned to art school and graduated with my BFA (painting major) and currently completing my MFA (visual studies). My drawings, paintings, and sculptures are expressive and spontaneous. Distorted symbolic images with bright colors add to my expressive voice. My work continues to be large abstractions of the human body and our relationships done in mixed media with various mark makings. The imaginary world is where my attention roams. To examine and notice who is encountered in my experiences is my art practice. Painting is what I do. I paint fulltime. Committed. I paint because I have to. I sense that I’m eventually emerging from and into. There are not many answers. Yet.
CV Education BSc (Medical and Social Sciences) – University of Orange Free State (1985) MD – University of Orange Free State (1990) FCFP - Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (1997) MA Jungian psychology – Saybrook University (2010) Advanced Diploma in Art Therapy – Vancouver Art Therapy Institute (2013) BFA – Alberta University of the Arts (2020) MFA (c) - Lesley University (2022) Exhibitions 2021 upcoming Compulsion (group), Florence Biennial, Florence Peperit (group), Elaine Fleck gallery, Toronto Bonds that tie (solo), Gibson Fine Art gallery, Calgary 2020 Volparra of Magical Prayers (solo), Galerie Gaulin, Calgary Bairn (group), 10th Annual President’s Art Exhibit, AUArts, Calgary Structure (group), Lock in, Online exhibition, Lesley University, Boston 2019 Waiting at the gate (group), 9th President’s Art Exhibit, AUArts, Calgary Hercules (group), F & D auction, Calgary 2018 St. Sebastian (group), 8th President’s Art Exhibit, Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary Delilah (group), F & D auction, Calgary 2017 Dream images (group), 7th President’s Art Exhibit, Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary Quiet benches (group), Maker Faire, Calgary Rooster (group), F & D auction, Calgary 2016 Zodiacs (solo), European Graduate School, Saas Fee, Switzerland 2015 Night Goat – The god PAN (solo), Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, USA 2014 RED men (solo), Art Mode Gallery, Ottawa Awards 2020 Strauch-Mosse Scholarship 2019 Barbara and John Poole Family Scholarship
Contact
www.johnfaul.com johnfaul@shaw.ca #johnfaul.art 1 – 403 – 819 3421 Suite 144, 11520 24th Street SE, Calgary, AB, T2Z 3E9, Canada