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MICHAEL A. HUNTER 2013
OIL ON CEDAR
16 CM X 16 CM
$250.00

Canadian Art work by Ontario artists
Michael A. Hunter

December 2010-January-February 2011 Woodstock District Community Complex

Michael Hunter was born in Brantford, Ontario. He moved from the family dairy farm to Muir, Ontario in 1976. Michael received his Diploma of Fine Art from Fanshawe College in London, 1991 and attended the University of Windsor Bachelor of Fine Art until 1993. He moved to the United States in 1993 and ten years later became a United States citizen. Michael works and resides with his family in Woodstock for the past nine years.
Michael has exhibited in solo exhibitions such as How’s the Water, Chili David’s Restaurant, Woodstock; The Community Gallery at Bethany Chiropractic Center and Hamden Miller Memorial Library, Connecticut; Fish and Chipper, Port Rowan and University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Belton, Texas. Selected group exhibitions include 22 Inspired Art, JMR Art Gallery, Bayfield; Third Annual Oxford Studio Tour, Woodstock; Oxford Creates, Craigowan Golf & Country Club, Woodstock; The Arts Project, London; City-Wide Open Studios, New Haven, Connecticut; Hopkins Vineyard, New Preston, Connecticut; Museum London, London; McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario, London and the Centre of Contemporary Art, St. Thomas, Ontario
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ARTIST STATEMENT


MICHAEL A. HUNTER
14,000 SERPENTS 2010
ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
71.5IN. X 31.5IN.

While I was on a cruise our ship made a stop at the Cayman Islands. We toured the island and on our return to the port I was struck by the amount of vessels in the harbour. It reminded me of a swarm of locusts and the island itself was a metaphor for the planet. The resources needed to sustain these floating towns is truly mind-boggling. I took several pictures of the bay to construct this painting using sketches and my memory of how I felt at the time.
--Michael Hunter

The work of Michael Hunter indulges in the kind of familiar subject matter that resonates contemporary times and topical issues. Beyond mere landscape painting concerned with light, form and texture Hunter’s considered painterly image reveals a developed consciousness of the pictorial image and perceptual psychology that reveals and questions our relationship to the environment specific to place. As a cultural artifact his work investigates hidden relationships between the representation of nature and desire, one that enters the subconscious realm informed by memory and personal observation to construct a visual narrative.

As glossy magazine ads entice the reader to tour on luxury cruise ships to visit exotic places, enjoy the amenities and partake in relaxation and entertainment activities the lure of the locale becomes a form of escapism or exoticism for the tourist; a place away from the mundane and monotony of everyday living. Whether it is the alluring Mediterranean seas, or perhaps the icy waters of the northern Pacific Rim the desire to seek a place of solace becomes a collective activity. In contrast to the these glazed images of sandy beaches and lush flora and fauna Hunter’s gritty and stark treatment and rhythmic movement along the vast horizon draws attention to his surroundings as someone’s ideal romantic vision of place is someone else’s backyard.

Hunter’s panoramic view exists in a state of flux. As a means of distancing or way of seeing he suggests a place of privilege and the distance between dichotomies is a matter of cultural survival on a global scale. The transitory place afloat the turbulent waters reflect the industrial, technological and psychological atmosphere conducive of societal values. Alluding to the dynamics of local and global economy at the expense of compromising and corrupting natural environments Hunter questions what we take for granted. A constructed utopian environment is without consequence to nature. Is the desire of the leisure world and all that we demand all that we can come to expect?

Written by Patricia Deadman

LIST OF WORKS

14,000 Serpents, 2010, acrylic on canvas, Collection of the Artist

CONTACT
www.hunterframing.ca
hunterframing@yahoo.ca


OXFORD COUNTY ART PROJECT: ART IN PUBLIC SPACES is a visual arts project supported by the Ontario Arts Council-Visual and Media Arts Project initiated by independent Woodstock curators Pat Gibson and Patricia Deadman in partnership with Woodstock Art Gallery (a Cultural Division of the City of Woodstock), Ingersoll Creative Arts Centre and Tillsonburg Station Arts Centre. This project exhibits every 3 months a selection of contemporary works of art by local Oxford County artists with exhibition venues at the Oxford County Administration Building, Woodstock District Community Complex and the Tillsonburg Library. The Project gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council; an agency of the Ontario government. For further information or comments, email: art_in_public_spaces@hotmail.com