Macdonald’s paintings depict people in the artist’s immediate environment. His endeavor is to create private moments, involving the viewer as the silent third party, caught in the act of looking. Whether through the eyes of the digital camera, monitor, or TV media, how and what one sees can be edited, masked, or obscured. Macdonald is interested in the act of seeing and how it relates to painting as a visual media.

 His work is informed by the traditional as well as the avant-garde. Through the rigorous application of oil paint, he allows the physicality of the painting to speak with it’s own voice. He continues what has been done by many painters in art history, to create through paint, a language of their own time. Macdonald is immersed in the evolution of painting, how it is applied, and what it means. 

 John Macdonald graduated with honors and merit awards in 1987 from Emily Carr College of Art and Design. His paintings are in the collections of the Department of External Affairs, Ottawa, Toronto Dominion Bank, Vancouver and Toronto, Shaw Cable, Calgary, The Bentall Center, Vancouver, The Grand Pacific Hotel, Victoria, and The Hyatt Regency, Calgary. 

 Originally from Prince George, and a long time resident of Vancouver, the Artist now resides with his wife and daughter on Salt Spring Island, BC

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Les tableaux de Macdonald montrent les gens de son environnement immédiat. Il cherche à recréer des moments intimes auxquels le spectateur, un participant silencieux, est pris à regarder. Que ce soit à travers une caméra digitale, un moniteur ou à la télévision, ce que nous voyons peut être occulté, masqué, transformé. Macdonald s'intéresse à la vision et à la manière que cela influe sur la peinture en tant que media visuel.

Son travail s'inspire de l'art traditionnel comme de l'art actuel. De par son application rigoureuse de la peinture à l'huile, il permet au tableau d'avoir ses propres résonances. Il continue dans la grande tradition de la peinture à créer grâce à ses oeuvres un langage propre à son temps. Macdonald est imprégné de l'évolution de la peinture, sa technique et son sens.

John Macdoanld a gradué en 1987 de l'Emily Carr College of Art and Design.Ses tableaux sont dans les collections du Département des affaires extérieures, Ottawa, Toronto Dominion Bank, Vancouver et Toronto, Shaw Cable, Calgary, The Bentall Center, Vancouver, The Grand Pacific Hotel, Victoria, et au Hyatt Regency, Calgary