Nathan Birch
Born: 1978
Lives in Victoria BC, Canada.
Looking back through the more than two decades that I have painted landscapes, I’ve realized that my work has likely caused, albeit unintentionally and perhaps even unconsciously, a degree of uneasiness in viewers. My goal has always been to study my surroundings, to interpret and express this knowledge in the most sincere, personal way I could. This act took the form of painting scenes across multiple canvases, two or three panels (referred to as diptychs or triptychs) all the while allowing the separation between each canvas to play a crucial role in the painting as a whole. This, I felt, created a balanced tug-of-war between the painting as an object on the wall vs. the painting as a window through the wall.
However, by dividing these Canadian landscapes, by separating that which we are so accustomed to seeing whole, I’ve invited the viewer to take part in a rigged experience; one which is not purely enjoyable but also inherently tense. My aim is that through seeing my work, the observer is taken through the wall and into the scene I’ve depicted - but not as smoothly and effortlessly as they may be accustomed to - or at least not as naively. Yet it is exactly because of this awareness that I choose to paint - to interpret and express my surroundings in a manner which shows people a new way to see and understand their world critically, without preconceptions.
Education
BFA in Painting, 2000, Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary, Alberta
Exhibitions
2019 New Paintings, Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto
2016 New Paintings, Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto
2014 New Landscapes, Winchester Gallery, Victoria
2014 New Paintings, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary
2015- 2002 Toronto International Art Fair, represented by Douglas Udell Galleries and Mira Godard Gallery
2013 Paint and Place, Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto
2013 Waters, Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton
2012 New Paintings, Winchester Gallery, Victoria
2011 New Work, Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto
2011 New Paintings, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary
2010 New Paintings, Winchester Gallery, Victoria
2009 New Works, Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton
2009 New Paintings, Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto
2008 New Work, Douglas Udell Gallery, Vancouver
2008 New Paintings, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary
2007 New Paintings, Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto
2006 Christmas Show featuring Nathan Birch, Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton
2006 More or Less, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary
2005 New Work, Douglas Udell Gallery, Vancouver
2005 New Paintings, Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto
2004 New Paintings, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary
2004 New Paintings, Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto
2003 New Work, Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton
2003 Summer Landscape, Group show, Mira Godard
Gallery, Toronto
2001- 2002 Artrageous 1 & 2, Group shows, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, ACAD, Calgary
2001 Seven Months of Landscape, Solo show, Art is Vital Gallery, Calgary
Collections
ScotiaBank; TD Bank; Canada Council For the Arts; Alberta Foundation for the Arts; Shaw Collection; Vermillion Energy Trust, Calgary; Wasteless Environmental Corporation;The Granite Club, Calgary; OPSEU Pension Trust; Bennett Jones; Four Seasons Hotel; The Georgia Hotel, Vancouver; The Colart Collection and numerous private collections throughout North America