Biography

My art deals with landscape and our civilization's impact on it. I realize that our subtle impacts on the land can arguably be more aesthetically interesting than the raw wilderness that preceded them. In my paintings I like to include things that I know exist in the landscape, which usually are considered unsightly in a work of art. When looking at a scene, one tends to overlook these objects. By bringing attention to them in my work, I offer the viewer, in some ways, a more realistic view of a typical scene.

The paintings are often of no specific place, but rather are synthesized from many experiences and memories. I travel a fair amount, often internationally, accumulating these ideas before painting them in my studio on Gabriola Island, B.C. Canada or in Lima, Peru. I do not foresee any sudden thematic changes in my work, but rather a continuation of the artistic progression I've been making for more than thirty years.

John Ogilvy was born December 11, 1961 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.