Canadian Art New Contemporaries Visit Artist Jason McLean
Jason McLean shows the group his work in progress in his studio.
On Tuesday, November 24, the Canadian Art New Contemporaries, Canadian Art’s young patron group, visited the home and studio of artist Jason McLean, where they toured the artist’s personal collection and were able to see the projects that he is currently working on.
New Contemporaries coordinator Andrea Carson introduced the artist, whose work is a complex blend of visual reportage that includes drawing, sculpture, installation and sound art. McLean then showed the group, including two of our co-chairs, Emily Thring and Tatiana Read, around his studio, where they saw his works in progress and learned about his creative process.
The tour continued through McLean’s extensive art collection, which includes work by modern Canadian masters Jack Shadbolt and Harold Town as well as that of more contemporary artists including Barry McGee, Karin Bubas, Attila Richard Lukacs, and his own work.
McLean spoke about the practice of trading his own art for work by other artists, how he was influenced by living near Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and his unusual collections of ephemera, including his many pieces of found writing picked up from the streets of Vancouver. He showed the group a piece that he is preparing for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and some of his more personal works and sculpture.
Jason McLean can can hat 2007 © Jason McLean
Jason McLean was raised in London, Ontario. He developed his practice in Vancouver, where he studied at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, graduating in 1997. He has lived and worked in Toronto since 2008. Over the past few years, his diverse practice has included drawing, sculpture, installation, sound performance and mail art. Much of his work contains collaborative elements. In 2004, he was chosen by Maclean’s magazine as one of 10 Canadian artists to watch and his work was described as being like “visual diaries – stream-of-consciousness illustrations that merge details of his personal life with the oddities he encounters in his neighbourhood, bits of overheard street conversation, movie trivia and bits of Canadian history.” He is represented in Toronto by Jessica Bradley Art + Projects on Dundas Street West. His work is held in private collections around the world and is in the collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, which has purchased a number of his works. Last but not least, Jason is a contributing artist to the Canadian Art Foundation’s annual Gallery Hop auction.
Following the tour, the group and Jason McLean went to dinner at Bar One, where they enjoyed a delicious prix fixe dinner courtesy of owner Marcello Barone.
The Canadian Art New Contemporaries promotes and creates access to our vibrant visual art community through specially designed programs and events where members meet and mingle with art world personalities and fellow members. Members also have the opportunity to directly engage with artists, critics, curators, collectors and leading art world figures through exclusive programs designed to deepen an understanding of contemporary art.
Contributions from the New Contemporaries directly support the work of the Canadian Art Foundation, a charitable organization that fosters and supports the visual arts in Canada. The foundation unites art, ideas and people from coast to coast through a diverse arrangement of national and international educational programs.
Canadian Art New Contemporaries Co-Chairs: Jennen Phelan, Tatiana Read, Karelle Steiner, Emily Thring
For more information and to join, please visit our New Contemporaries microsite.
A Jason McLean artwork, Shelter of Someone’s Arms, on view at the 2008 Canadian Art Gallery Hop Gala auction.
