Quebec-based artist Gavin Lynch has quickly become a key player in the new vision of landscape painting that is invigorating this archetypal Canadian genre. Employing a collage approach to the picture plane, Lynch resists pictorial and painterly continuity in favor of unexpected and often conflicting combinations of elements, some derived from memory, others from the artist’s imagination. Sharply delineated forms are juxtaposed with fluid areas, while highly stylized rocks and trees are painted in naturalistic colours. Wavering between material flatness and pictorial depth, luminosity and darkness, and abstraction and representation, these paintings exude an energizing tension that invites extended looking.
Gavin Lynch holds a BFA from Emily Carr University (2009) and a MFA from the University of Ottawa (2012). He is the recipient of awards and grants from various organizations, including the Canada Council for the Arts (2014), the Ontario Arts Council (2013) and the province of Ontario (2011). In 2014 Lynch was a finalist in the RBC Painting Competition, which was exhibited at the Musée des Beaux Arts. His work has been exhibited across Canada, featured in Canadian Art magazine and is in various collections: Simon Fraser University, University of Toronto, TD Canada Trust, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, Toronto Dominic Bank, Nordstrom, and City of Ottawa Permanent Collection. He has also completed a commission piece displayed in Air Canada’s Signature Suite at Pearson International Airport. Lynch lives and works outside Wakefield, Quebec.