Jean Paul is a Métis artist from Vancouver Island, currently painting in East Vancouver. His work is informed by television and cinema, particularly Westerns, 70s sci-fi and Saturday morning cartoons. Using ultra-saturated colours, references to art history and well-worn cinema tropes, he seeks to understand the alienation to his own cultural backgrounds, both indigenous and settler. His work is an examination of his own life, through the reinterpretation of family stories using characters and motifs from the pop culture he was weaned on. The result is a very recognizable style of familiar figures in their own world of bright colours and flattened space.
ARTISTS STATEMENT
Unnatural Histories is composed of paintings from two series. One is the story of my Métis Fathers rise from a poverty-stricken, working-class background and marrying into my Mothers affluent and educated family and the problems related with switching class. I explore various anecdotes, both funny and tragic, that illustrate his quest for success and fear of mortality. The remainder features recurring animal characters in environs that have been altered, adulterated or even ruined by mankind's greed and blindness.
CV
EXHIBITIONS
2022 AN ENDING, A BEGINNING, Kube, Gibsons
2022 3 BAD MEN AND SOME PLACES I VISITED, Barristers Lounge, Vancouver
2021 QUEST FOR SOMETHING REEL, Gallery Merrick, Nanaimo
2020 BATTLE FOR THE VALLEY OF THE DAMNED, Gallery Merrick, Nanaimo
2019 BARN BURNING and Other Adventure Stories For Degenerates, Kafkas on Main, Vancouver
2019 GROSS EXAGGERATIONS-The Novelization of a Mundane Life, Kube Studios, Gibsons
2018 RETURN TO SPIRIT RIVER-or Meeting the In Laws as told by Mother, VAG Art Rentals, Vancouver
2017 AMONG VULTURES, TAG Gallery, Victoria
2017 ASSASSINS IN APE CITY, Cartems, Vancouver
2017 SCENES FROM AN IMAGINARY WESTERN Vancity Theatre, Vancouver
2017 THE UNFORGIVEN, Gallery 1965, Vancouver
2016 FUNDING REGRET, Toast Collective, Vancouver
2015 FAKE INDIANS, Make Gallery, Vancouver
2013 FATTY ACID, Nanaimo Art Gallery, Nanaimo
2012 GOD FORGIVES... I DON’T, Interurban Gallery, Vancouver
2010 THE DEVIL, HIS FRIENDS AND THEIR DOGS, Locus, Vancouver
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 UP HERE FESTIVAL, Sudbury
2023 100 AMIGOS, Vancouver
2022 SUMMER MOON ARTS FESTIVAL, Sault Ste Marie
2020 SOUL METHODS, Beumont Studio Vancouver
2019 100 AMIGOS, Vancouver,
2019 NELSON INTERNATIONAL MURAL FESTIVAL, Nelson
2018 VANCOUVER MURALFEST, Vancouver
2018 EAST MEETS WEST (With Al Runt), Stockyards Gallery, Toronto
2016 KUKERI (With Erik Volet), TAG Gallery, Victoria
2016 REGRET HUNTERS, IPPM Gallery, Chicago
2011 PERSON, PLACE OR THING, Nanaimo Art Gallery, Nanaimo
2009 IMAGINARY FRIENDS AND FANTASY BEARDS (With Robert Dayton) Paul Petro, Toronto
2008 STUDIO VISITS-A NUIT BLANCHE EVENT, 107 Shaw Gallery, Toronto
TEXT
2018 “All That Glitters” SADMAG N0. 20/21: High School
RESIDENCIES
2023 Chateau Orquiveaux, Champagne, France
2022 Private Patron, Carmel, California
2020 KAIC, Dawson City, Yukon
2015 Make Gallery, Vancouver
ARTISTS TALKS
2020 Yukon School of the Visual Arts
2018 Vancouver Art Gallery Sales and Rentals
FILM SCREENINGS
2023 Quest For Something Reel (Accompanied by 3 NFB Films and Q&A), The Well Vancouver
DONATIONS AND COLLECTIONS
2023 Calgary Wildlife Rescue, Calgary
2023 Chateau Orquiveaux, Orquiveaux, France
2023 Splash Art Auction. Arts Umbrella, Vancouver
2022 Splash Art Auction. Arts Umbrella, Vancouver
2021 Splash Art Auction. Arts Umbrella, Vancouver
2020 Splash Art Auction. Arts Umbrella, Vancouver
