Bio

received his Fine Arts degree at the University of Ottawa in 1991. On graduation he was awarded the jury prize for his work in installation art, photography and sculpture.

While in Ottawa, he became captivated by the idea of the art symbol; juxtaposing two or more images to create visual haikus, then experimenting with overlays as a means of adding intentional uncertainty and a pathway to greater symbolic expression. The underlying idea was that the conscious mind is imaginatively bound by the limits of language. By contrast, a symbol is not so much 'seen and explained' as it is assimilated - via a direct path from the senses to the subconscious. The natural progression of this research allowed him to create more complex images that amplify the depth of meaning.

He has exhibited these large works, photographs, videos, and interactive sculptures in Canada and Europe since 1993.

Al has served on the Board of Directors at SAW Contemporary Artist's Centre in Ottawa, Canada, and has taught Photography, and Art And Technology workshops in Ottawa and Toronto.

Influences include Lynne Cohen, Minor White, Evergon, Josef Sudek, Paul Gauguin, Gustav Klimt, Emily Carr and kinetic installation artist Tony Brown. Other major influences include authors Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell and Ellen Dissanayake.


Statement

"I've always been fascinated by polyrhythms - how interacting patterns & sounds lend themselves to ritual and meditation. In reaction to the limitations of the spoken word and my background in music, I work at constructing similar polyrhythms in visual art, in an effort to create deeply communicative, complex symbols.

Socially and spiritually, I'm interested in our communal sense of loss of something wonderful. In creating art, I choose to use technologies that we have in part come by in lieu of that very 'something' - they become the tools I use in an attempt to stir our collective memory.

My work is often focused on primal / spiritual aspects of mortal life; the lightness, darkness, the beauty and the sadness of living, and often includes powerful female figures."


Exhibitions

Ottawa, Canada.
Bratislava, Slovakia.
Toronto, Canada.

Whippersnapper Gallery, Toronto Canada, 2005.
F&P Gallery, Toronto Canada, 2006.
Toronto Canada (with Canadian Geographic photographer David Trattles) 2006.
Toronto Canada, 2009.
Canada, 2010-2019.













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