“Canada is not for sale.” – Prime Minister Mark Carney
This new collection of large-scale paintings and sculptures is a meditation on our complex and colourful Canadian identity. In a time of great uncertainty our national identity is being shaken, tested, and uprooted. Does Canada have a unique visual identity? How is Canada’s identity packaged and sold? And what is the true cost?
These works continue my longstanding interest in consumerism and socio-economic systems through a distinctly Canadian lens. Using nostalgic imagery and the tenets of Pop Art, this series invites viewers to reflect on a shared visual heritage, often encountered passively in grocery aisles, television commercials, and kitchen cupboards − and to consider how this identity is manufactured and mediated through design. Branding, advertising, and product design are not neutral artifacts, but powerful conveyors of meaning. The collection sparks a dialogue about how consumer design functions as a type of public language, and how national narratives are packaged and sold.
These new pieces were painted meticulously by hand to mimic mechanical techniques of mass
production (offset printing, screenprinting, and photocopy). This set of paintings represents an
intersection of my lifelong passion for graphic design and typography with my deep affinity for analog art making, scenic painting, and collage. They pay tribute to the hand-crafted illustration and lettering work of commercial artists (many unattributed) before Canada’s design renaissance of the 1960s. This process of replication and “culture jamming” at such a grand scale became a very personal and intimate journey through Canada’s rich design history.
“Selling Canada” was created during my three-month studio residency at Gladstone House in Toronto.