Nathan Birch
Born: 1978
Lives in Victoria BC, Canada.
My work has always been a sincere attempt to interpret my surroundings through an examination of the painting as a window vs. the painting as an object. Because of this delicate balancing act, it has often resulted in a sense of uneasiness for the viewer. In my new series, “Unsettled Landscapes”, I explore this tension by using AI-enhanced tools to erase the human presence from the landscape. I then translate these edited, "empty" realities into highly realistic paintings.
This process creates a rigged experience: the viewer is drawn into a beautiful, traditional landscape, only to find themselves standing in a semi-fictional void created through the use of this monumental new technology. By painting these digitally depopulated scenes, I am creating a tug-of-war between the familiar comfort of realism and the uncertain, apprehensive future shaped by artificial intelligence. I choose to paint these unsettling/unsettled spaces to offer a new way to see the world - inviting the observer to look past the "window" and critically examine what it means to be present in, or absent from, our environment.
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