Tableaux Printemps
April 2 – 18, 2009
Artist Reception April 2, 6 – 8 pm

The impeccable technique of Vancouver artist John Dennison reveals a wealth of details and textures in narrative drawings. In Tableaux Printemps, eight mixed-media pieces using dry colour pastels and four black and white ink drawings explode with layers of surrealist wit.          

Dennison combines familiar objects in paradoxical drawings filled with irony and illusion. The visual montages incorporate elements that frequently occur in Dennison’s work: checkered floors, hearts, dome-topped buildings, references to absent figure or bodies, and mechanical objects.      

Dennison studied fine art at the Vancouver School of Art (now the Emily Carr University of Art and Design) between 1968 and 1971, where he majored in photography, commercial art and design. Dennison worked as a freelance photographer before taking a full-time position with the advertising department of a major company. All the while he has drawn inspiration from his extensive travels in England, Europe, and America.           

Tableaux Printemps is John Dennison’s third solo exhibition with Diane Farris Gallery.