In The Sunroom: John Bladek

On display from June 4 to July 30, 2023 in The Sunroom at Central Library, art by John Bladek. 

John was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. He attended the University of Toronto and graduated with degrees in geology and geography. He moved to western Canada in 1984, and worked as a geological consultant in the oil and gas industry until 2010 when he retired and moved to the Yarmouth area.  

John was introduced to oil painting in a Grade 12 art class and painted very little until late 2015. He now paints full-time, and has recently spent time in Calgary attending classes at the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD). He paints primarily in two unique styles.  

In Geometric Expressions, he is drawn to the challenge of painting landscapes by simplifying them, using only individual shapes of solid colours and their size, geometry, and colour to create recognizable images with depth and three-dimensionality.  

His Fish Figments paintings are colourful and fanciful depictions of fish in various flow schemes on a coloured canvas, where viewers are encouraged to see “whatever they want to see” in them. John does not use any tape or stencils in either style of painting, nor does he draw in the individual components—all are painted freehand.