JACK BISHOP / HALIFAX, NS
Jack Bishop grew up in southern New Brunswick amidst the expanding strip malls of Quispamsis and the sprawl of East Saint John. The commercial retail centres and the 15 minute highway commute between home and the town has long served as inspiration for his work.
In his paintings, Jack explore notions of landscape through themes of car-culture, consumerism, and the sprawl. His paintings portray colourful and busy landscapes that can be romanticized but also can carry a dark realism. The compositions map out a geography of anonymity, a sort of nowhere typical of the outskirts of large North American cities. The paintings become their own fabricated environments; where placement of advertising, roads and infrastructure break up otherwise picturesque scenery.