Carcass 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 a 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. 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. For me, painting is similar to fly fishing.
Artist statement My intent is that 'Carcass' as a body of work, will create a dialogue about mental health in our contemporary times. Mental health has become more than ever a concern as we navigate during the current viral pandemic. As an individual, I'm much more than my physical body. Within my body is a complex emotional person who continuously attempts to make sense that my life has meaning. These efforts of searching for a purposeful life are very emotional. Emotions stir and move me along the way. I'm a human because I feel. Unfortunately, life isn't easy and smooth. There are many challenges and obstacles on the way. In all the experiences along the path one feels many emotions, sometimes too much, at times not enough. There's also a lot of distorted thinking happening during traumatic times. Actions follow feelings and thoughts, and these behaviors may be very destructive and ruinous, at times. When there's an urgent desperation many seek help from many different resources. In my view, our society's dominant mental health model that's offered by psychiatry is essentially salvific. Mental diseases are seen as disorders. Psychiatric care privilege mental disorders as chemical diseases to be rectified with pharmaceutical treatments. Medications prescribed are in line with a codified system that classifies psychiatric disorders. Psychiatric labels are reinforced with many medications. One is cured from a disorder wearing the appropriate straight jacket and taking the right pharmaceuticals. Fortunately, many mental health workers also offer talk therapies of many methods and varieties. Many psychiatrists also offer helpful counseling with their prescriptions. There are many good mental health workers. 'Carcass' as a body of paintings invites a discussion about the labels that persons are tagged with in psychiatry. I challenge the effectiveness of being labeled. Despite a psychiatric label and being medicated, many individuals still suffer. I'm curious about experiences of what the emotional person feels underneath the cloak of a psychiatric label. I’m curious about who really is present when an individual is diagnosed and coded. I sense that emotions are portholes to recognize in whose presence one really is.
emo Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil - 2021 emo ~ I'm an emotional person. As a human, I feel. Emotions make me a person. There's nothing wrong or bad to feel. As a person of worth, I've feelings that sometimes overwhelm or minimize me. And that’s OK, for I’m an emotional person.
afeared Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil - 2021 afeared ~ One who over-worries most of the time. The label is Anxiety disorder. Anxiety is real, for life is large, consuming, and at times one feels flooded and overwhelmed. Sometimes it’s almost like drowning.
ones and twos Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil - 2021 ones and twos ~ One who cuts. The label is Non suicidal injury disorder. Inside every physical body as an emotional person who at times feels flawed and unbelonging. Cutting are raw actions of deep pain when one cries for acceptance and love.
big tuna Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil - 2021 big tuna ~ One who behaves as being the bestest, smartest, and richest. The label is Narcissistic disorder. There are many, the big kahunas, who trumps abusively and cruelly over others during our times.
ana Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil - 2021 ana ~ When one's starving or starved. The label is Anorexia. There are many emotions associated with eating behaviors when there’re many deeper emotional concerns. Food isn’t the real problem of the anorexic.
plan B Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil - 2021 plan B ~ When one's purging. The label is Bulimia. The feelings of one’s body image is real. There’re many emotions associated with one’s body that’s nothing to do with food.
fangry Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil - 2021 fangry ~ When one's overwhelmed with anger. Like 'fuckin' angry!!!' The label is Oppositional deviant disorder. When one feels totally boxed in and shut up, there’re a lot of consuming hot anger and cold resentment. Anger has many faces. To separate the actions of anger from anger isn’t easy.
neat hoarder Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil - 2021 neat hoarder ~ One who neatly over-organizes things. The label is Obsessive compulsive disorder. Many suffer from repeating very destructive habits, addictions, and behaviors. When one’s ashamed, stigmas aren’t far behind.
sadventure Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil - 2021 sadventure ~ One who’s grieving over a loss. The label is Complicated grief disorder. Losses and deaths happen all the time. It’s life. Feeling empty and rejected during those times are very real. Grief has no time limit. One doesn’t just get over things.
poly-polar Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil - 2021 poly-polar ~ One who's aware of many opposing emotions. The label is Bipolar disorder. Emotions are on a spectrum and their affects are intense and overwhelming. As a human one doesn’t choose to feel. Feelings are autonomous. When feelings are intense, one’s actions aren’t always predictable and safe.
world war 3000 Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil - 2021 world war 3000 ~ In some situations, one panics. The label is Panic disorder. In some situations, one’s so scared worrying that the worst is going to happen. It may never happen, like world war 3. But feeling panicky and very nervous are real.
good job flat man Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil - 2021 good job flat man ~ Sometimes, it's very hard to say what one really feels. The label is Not otherwise specified disorder. Emotions are real. To feel is human. It’s difficult sometimes to know what’s going on. Life isn’t easy, most of the times.
Image list 1. emo. Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil. 2021. 2. afeared. Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil. 2021. 3. ones and twos. Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil. 2021. 4. big tuna. Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil. 2021. 5. ana. Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil. 2021. 6. plan B. Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil. 2021. 7. fangry. Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil. 2021. 8. neat hoarder. Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil. 2021. 9. sadventure. Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil. 2021. 10. poly-polar. Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil. 2021. 11. world war 3000. Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil. 2021. 12. good job flat man. Painting (36” x 48”) on canvas in acrylic and oil. 2021.
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. 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