Todd Clark

I've always had a deep connection to the land within which I have lived, whether it be the open plains of Alberta and Manitoba or the vertical, sky-scraping forests of coastal British Columbia. My work calls attention to the beauty of these areas and their habitats.

My interest in art was piqued in childhood by the paintings of revered contemporary artists, such as Gordon Smith, Lawren Harris, Jack Shadbolt , and Takoe Tanabe, to name a few, whose work I grew to appreciate whilst studying at local galleries and museums. Later, as a elementary teacher, I also grew to love the art of children. Lawless and bold, their sense of expression inspired me to explore the canvas with almost reckless abandon.

My approach to painting is related more to abstraction than to conventional landscape. I take cues from nature, but rarely work from it directly. My sources are usually siphoned from memory or imagined. I enjoy challenging the established notions of landscape painting and at times my work is deliberately enigmatic. While painting, I find myself deconstructing and reinventing aspects of nature which are governed by an ecology of form and colour.