Donovan Rose

Intrigued by nostalgia, and trying to reconnect with the past, my paintings are a search for something lost, yet familiar and satisfying, like falling asleep on the beach with a burning cigarette between your fingers, smelling of Hawaiian Tropic and gin. As much as I want to think painting is simply an act which I partake in on a day to day basis for the pure indulgence of it, which it is, is it also in fact everything and the only thing I truly believe in. 

                                                            - D.R.  

I was born in Sorrento BC in 1984 and raised in an artist run home. The youngest of six siblings, my education began at an early age, as my father was a lazy poet, and my mother a talented baker and wildlife sketch artist. My mother tight me the fundamentals of drawing from life at a young age and I was surrounded by creativity, as my siblings were busy with their own expression. With my only formal arts education coming in the last year of high school, I graduated and went straight into the labourer force, working in central Alberta and later Vancouver.

In 2010 after moving to Montreal, I began studying art on my own accord, while working as a janitor, I would read about the modern masters and make drawings in a storage room at work, taking them home later to fill with paint. Soon I moved to portraits of my roommates and random historical figures and a visit to an Otto Dix exhibition inspired three full scale figure paintings, sought with fauve and cubist influence, which I have continued to explore and expand upon.

I am currently living in the Cowichan Valley where my partner and I run The Ou Artist Residency and Gallery. I am currently working on a series of paintings exploring the theme of bathers in the modern Arcadia, through my grandfather's photographs of life on the Shuswap Lake in the 1960's.