Gary Cody

Canadian artist

Artist Statement

"When people speak of a single, defining moment that was instrumental in shaping their careers, I remember a show that was featured at the Alberta College of Art when I was there as a painting student.

Two paintings absolutely entranced me- a pair of still life pieces by Giorgio Morandi. I really hadn't appreciated what could be done with still life until that moment. And although my work has little in common visually with Morandi, he continues to be a hero of mine.

Morandi's work illustrates what, for me, is the paradox of still life painting - the simpler the work becomes, the more complex it becomes. I'm continually surprised at the visual complexity and richness of something as simple as an apple refracted through a glass jar- "worlds within worlds", all around us but rarely appreciated. It's the need to capture and share this wonderful complexity- these visual surprises- that is my motivation to paint.

My main interest remains glass - its transparency, distortion,
and how it affects objects around it. However, I'm trying to get away from more traditional elements such as fruit, vases etc. and replacing them with non-traditional objects - rusted metal, old toys, broken clock faces, cheap plastic flowers.

I'm also exploring variations on point-of-view, using more extreme "camera angles" than people might be used to. The third element I've been playing with is the format of the painting. They've been getting more extreme in their dimensions, both vertically and horizontally.

And perhaps the biggest area of ongoing change is the work's complexity. The pieces are becoming more complex as I add more and more elements to each piece. I love the complexity of composition that results from this."