Aaron Zak is a painter based in Montreal. He completed his MFA at Concordia University in 2010, and has since maintained a devoted if somewhat hermetic studio practice. In addition to painting, he has contributed to a number of independent film projects, and recently completed a forthcoming graphic novel.

                  

“My painting practice is divided into distinct bodies of work, each embodying a specific set of questions about how and why to build a picture. Oftentimes my work stems from how ideas of the landscape and corporeality work their way into painting as both iconography and physical process. 

 

The group of paintings presented here mark a period of exploration of motifs based on an intuitive movement between surface, object and vessel. Originally inspired by a smashed LCD display screen I encountered along the Bowery, the resulting lattice-work of jewelescent distortions quickly channeled my attention toward an intuitive use of color and drawing, reinvigorating my painting with a body-centered logic and allowing me to sidestep any reliance on a hand-held screen as interlocutor to creative instinct. I’ve approached these works with an attitude of detached spontaneity, against which any effort to start editing the work toward an idea of a good or finished picture stands out in stark relief.”

July 10 – August 30, 2020
ZSSSI
117 Quail Crescent
Salt Spring Island BC

V8K 1H1