Cliff Kearns Biography

Cliff Kearns' artwork has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and culturalcenters in Canada, including The Art Exchange, The Arts Project, Picture This Art Gallery, and the Howell Gallery in London, Ontario, the Art Works Gallery in Vancouver BC, Toronto Art Expo, Arta Gallery and the Papermill Art Gallery in Toronto, and Galerie Luz and Galerie Gora in Montreal. In addition, his work is in private and corporate collections, including those of General Motors of Canada, International Harvester, Kurtz Steel Inc., and Dashwood Industries.

Solo Exhibitions

2005 - "PAINTING by the NUMBERS," The Arts Project, London, Ontario, Canada

1994 - Picture This Art Gallery, London, Ontario, Canada

1982 - Howell Gallery, London, Ontario, Canada

Selected Group Exhibitions

2008 - Arta Gallery, The Distillery District, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2007 - The Art Exchange, London, Ontario, Canada

2007 - Toronto Art Expo, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2006 - Art Works Gallery, Vancouver BC, Canada

2006 - Society of Canadian Artist's 39th National Juried Exhibition, Papermill Art Gallery, Todmorden Mills Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2006 - THE GAME OF ART, Galerie Luz, Edifice BELGO, Montreal, Canada

2005 - ART/SPORT TURMOIL, The Arts Project, London, Ontario, Canada

1985 - London Regional Gallery, London, Ontario, Canada

Artist's Statement

Each painting in this mixed media series is related to another and symbolically expresses one small facet of the human experience with the unifying elements of the word “Image” and a number. As artists, we are concerned about images. As a society, we seem to be preoccupied with numbers – from our need to know the time of the day and the amount of money that we and others make and spend – to the number of people lost in a world conflict or die of starvation, and the number of years, months and days we have left to live. Numbers are facts in life, and like the works in this series, they just keep counting.

Although sometimes obscure and hidden below the surface, each painting contains the shape of a divided heart, commenting that love and ecstacy can also be the source of significant pain and division. In dissecting this universal symbol of love and compassion, positive and negative phenomena are expressed as an integral into the cycle of life.

The paintings are highly textured. Ripped plywood is integrated with other bits of three-dimensional material, including wooden and metal type, newspaper printing plates borrowed from my published illustrations and obsolete computer parts to form a base for the paint. The use of mirrors and plexiglas add a spirit of vitality and reflection – sometimes the reflection of the viewer. The combination and juxtaposition of polished elements with the texture of the other surfaces add a sense of change and movement to an otherwise inanimate object.