Jason
de Graaf

Jason de Graaf was born in Montreal, QC. He divided his time between working as a commissioned illustrator and his more passionate occupation as a fine artist, but, in 2005, he began to devote himself entirely to painting. de Graaf renders realist works in acrylic filtered through a personal response to his subjects, infusing them with the motivation to communicate something unique to the viewer.

“My paintings are about staging an alternate reality, the illusion of verisimilitude on the painted surface, filtered so that it expresses my unique vision. Though my paintings may appear photoreal my goal is not to reproduce or document faithfully what I see one hundred percent, but also to create the illusion of depth and sense of presence not found in photographs. Many of my paintings are about the relationship of light with reflective and transparent surfaces and my journey to understand those qualities and convey my sense of wonder and intrigue over them. In all of my paintings the subject matter is a springboard and a means to explore my ability to communicate something unique to the viewer. I use colours and composition intuitively with the intent of imbuing my paintings with emotion, mood and mystery. Throughout, I try to remain open to new ideas as the painting unfolds.”