Jason Deary: Three Legged Dog

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Jason Deary, "Portal," 2021

acrylic on linen over panel, 30" x 24"

Join VIVIANEART for an Instagram live conversation with artist Jason Deary and gallery founder/owner Viviane Mehr on 26 March, 2021 at 6pm MST.

Jason will be joining the Instagram live from Toronto, On. We are very excited to invite our friends and patrons to join us for a virtual celebration of Jason's new series of paintings, "Three Legged Dog". This is Jason's inaugural exhibition with VIVIANEART and we hope to raise a glass and spend some time with these works. We will discuss Jason's inspiration for the show, his technical process, and will gladly answer any questions our viewers have via Instagram.  

If you're unable to join us live, we will be posting the full conversation to vivianeart's igtv and youtube channel.

VIVIANEART is pleased to present a solo exhibition of all new paintings by Toronto based artist, Jason Deary. The exhibition title, “Three Legged Dog”, is inspired by a personal story. In an attempt to talk about his Alzheimer’s, Deary’s much loved stepdad used a metaphor about a three-legged dog. He talked about the idea that the three-legged dog quickly doesn’t know there to be anything wrong with itself. Dogs are so resilient and default to positivity. While we may consider the dog in light of what it has lost, he quickly moves on with his new reality. This metaphor resonated with Jason and is at the heart of this new body of work.

These paintings made with acrylics also play with the aesthetics of photography, prints and documentation. Deary creates acrylic skins or sheets, silk screening onto some and painting into others. These skins are ultimately collaged onto the painting’s surface. There are repeated motifs in these works: the fence, the gate, the window. They provide a formal structure for his imagery while alluding to deeper meaning. For the artist, these are spaces for reflection, they allow passage, but also protection. Much of the line work exists only in the negative, masked off with tape to show the layer underneath. Marks become defined by what is not actually there, like outlines, or ghosts. Deary makes abstract paintings that represent an investigation of fragmented memory through a wide variety of adopted and invented painting languages and an exhaustive exploration of techniques. He is interested in “how we can hold onto, reveal, and record memories of the past in order to understand the present and imagine our future”.

Jason Deary completed his BFA at The University of Windsor in 2010 and participated in The Banff Centre Work Study program from 2011-2012. He spent two years in Calgary before going on to complete his MFA at OCAD University in 2014. He describes that time in our city as really important for him in terms of personal and professional growth. Deary has exhibited in Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, and New York amongst other places. His work is held in private and corporate collections in Canada, the United States, and Europe. He was the recipient of an Emerging Artist grant from the Toronto Arts Council (2014), Ontario Art Council Grants (2015, 2017) and a Canada Council Grant (2018). He currently lives and works in Toronto.