Doug Kirton “Out Here” – September 19 – October 23, 2024

Doug Kirton’s “Out Here” exhibition, his first with us since 2020, is a celebration of the land.  Inspired by specific local landscapes that Kirton visits, his glorious new paintings create the sensation of being imbedded in the landscape.  Kirton has moved away from using the photographic source as a starting place, rather has relied on his lived experience in familiar landscapes close to home.  His interest is in creating moving paintings that you could recognize if you have visited each specific place.  However, the depiction is not for its own sake, but because the meaning is inherent to its realness as a place.

The attention to the surface and sensibility of light is classic Kirton.  Built up layers become crusty with paint and enhance the delicate balance of shifting light and complex gestures.  A master colourist and physical mark-maker, Kirton is one of Canada’s most intelligent and insightful painters.

Doug Kirton received his BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design in 1978 and his MFA from the University of Guelph in 1994.

For the past 40 years, Kirton’s work has been shown extensively across Canada and he has participated in International exhibitions including a 2-person exhibition with Jeffrey Spalding at 49th Parallel in NYC and “Painters 15” at the Shanghai Art Museum in China.  In 2000, Kirton’s work was the subject of a mid-career retrospective exhibition jointly organized by the University of Waterloo Art Gallery and Museum London.  Entitled “Times of Uncertainty: Doug Kirton Paintings 1983 – 1999”, the exhibition featured an accompanying catalogue with an essay written by the artist Will Gorlitz.

In 2002 Kirton was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA).  In 2004, he was awarded the Kitchener|Waterloo Arts Award in the category of Visual Arts and in 2012 he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

His work is represented in numerous public collections including the Art Gallery of Ontario, Vancouver Art Gallery, Museum London, National Gallery of Canada, and Shanghai Art Museum.

Doug Kirton is a recently retired Associate Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Waterloo in Kitchener/Waterloo where he lives and maintains an active studio practice.

Link to Doug Kirton’s Artist Page HERE