David Janzen: Images

Having resided in Alberta since 1966, I have been deeply influenced by the industrial growth of this place. As an observer who can't look away, I make pictures that reflect the ongoing transformation of this region, and other locales facing similar change. Since the mid-1980s, I have depicted a wide range of technological devices, frequently against a backdrop of clear sky or vapour-filled atmosphere: an approach that began when I isolated and painted elements of urban infrastructure above the skyline; lamps, chimneys, satellite dishes and broadcast towers that I could see from my studio window, treating them as 'still life' features suspended in air or hoisted up on poles. My paintings employ natural history as a scenic foil for visual depictions of current human activity. My pictures are personal accounts of our collective inurement to flawed 'progress', dystopia, fear, and loss of natural habitat.