John Conway
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My 2005 book, Saskatchewan: Uncommon Views,
is now out-of-print.
I have books available for $30.
Contact me and I'll send you the book.
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Brief Résumé
Self-taught, I have photographed the Saskatchewan prairie for many years. My photographs of Saskatchewan places have been exhibited in several galleries across Canada and beyond. Recently, I have begun to exhibit work from other ongoing projects
In 2005, my book, Saskatchewan: Uncommon Views, was published by The University of Alberta Press. The book was well received and is now out of print. Excerpts from reviews of the book may be seen at
http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=641
Selections of photographs from the book have been shown in solo exhibitions at The Photographers' Gallery (now PAVED + New Media), Saskatoon, 2005; Image 54 Gallery, Calgary, 2005; Drabinsky Gallery, Toronto, as part of CONTACT, 2005; The School of the Photographic Arts, Ottawa, 2007; The Council for the Arts, Ottawa, 2011; and in 2012 at Darrell Bell Gallery, Saskatoon.
Group exhibitions of work from the book include: International Photography Awards, Los Angeles, CA, 2004; The Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA, International Photographer of the Year, 2005; Golden Light Awards, The Maine Photographic Workshops, Rockport Maine, 2007; Fotobild, Berlin, Germany, 2007; Portfolio Showcase, 2008, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO; The Art of Photography, 2008, Los Angeles, CA.
This work is represented by Darrell Bell Gallery, Saskatoon, www.darrellbellgallery.com, and formerly by Drabinsky Gallery, Toronto. A number of prints are in the collection of the Saskatchewan Arts Board.
Recently, I have exhibited new work ( selections from Mexico 2666 and Street Work) in two small group exhibitions at PhotoHaus Gallery in Vancouver, photohausgallery.com/, curated by Katie Huisman.
Artist Statement, Saskatchewan Photographs
In photographing post-pastoral Saskatchewan over many years, my vision, at first focused on the stark beauty of the prairie, shifted to the quirky ironies of a people’s conflicted relationship with the land. Today, when photographing on the prairie, I feel more of the loneliness and longing that is partly out there and partly inside me, feelings that are softened by humour and my affection for the homeland.
The most abiding influence on my photographs of the Saskatchewan prairie has been The New Topographics. An influential group of photographers, first exhibited in 1975 and including Lewis Baltz, Robert Adams, Frank Gohlke and Nicholas NIxon, they took an anti-aesthetic approach to the western landscape, at odds with the nature romance of Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. They documented western landscapes inscribed by the effects of human habitation, neither celebrating nor condemning.
The perspective of Robert Adams in particular has stuck with me over the years. He has written that if the proper goal of art is Beauty, the Beauty that concerns him is that of Form. Such Beauty reveals the form and structure underlying life. Form is beautiful because it helps us meet our worst fear, the suspicion that life may be chaos and therefore without meaning. We judge art by whether it reveals to us important Form that we ourselves have experienced but to which we have not paid adequate attention. Successful art rediscovers Beauty for us.
I believe in what Robert Adams says, some of the time. Other times, I can take pleasure in, and laugh out loud at the ironies of life--life on the prairies, my own life.
News
April 2013
Canadian Photography Online posted an interview with me about my Saskatchewan photographs. This is a great blog from a dedicated and smart photographer.
canadianphotographyonline.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/john-conway/
June 2012
In my other life, my book on the history of the Canadian Psychological Association (1938-2010) was published. Here is a favourite archival photograph in the book.
May 2012
John Sifton and I had a book prototype of "Anhedonia, Sask." printed up. It looks good as a "real" book. Now to find a "real" publisher.
April 2012
Participated in a group exhibition at PhotoHaus Gallery here in Vancouver (http://photohausgallery.com) which is the gallery at the Vancouver Photo Workshops (www.vancouverphotoworkshops.com). Katie Huisman (http://cargocollective.com/katiehuisman), a wonderful photographer, curated the exhibition. Very happy to have an installation piece among some exciting young (and a few old) artists.
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February 2012
John Sifton and posted a quirky video based on our (yet to be published) book, "Anhedonia, Sask.: The Lost History. A Photographic Novel." Good fun making this video that will never "go viral."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?V=xRym_75HXxs
January 2012
Darrell Bell Gallery in Saskatoon now represents my Saskatchewan photographs. I am very happy to have these photographs available in Saskatoon. It is a real plekjasure for me to be included among some of the very best contemporary artists in the Province, and to have the support of Darrell and Ian at the Gallery.
If they don't sell in Saskatchewan where will they sell?
www.darrellbellgallery.com
June 2011
Three prints -- "Marge," "Larry," and "Gloria" -- are now hanging in the home of Drew Mandigo, Chair of the Board of the Council for the Arts in Ottawa.
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May 2011
The Council for the Arts in Ottawa exhibited two series of my Saskatchewan photographs.
My artist's statement expresses my present thoughts about my photographs of my adopted homeland.
In photographing post-pastoral Saskatchewan over many years, my vision, at first focused on the stark beauty of the prairie, shifted to the quirky ironies of a people’s conflicted relationship with the land. Today, when photographing on the prairie, I feel more of the loneliness and longing that is partly out there and partly inside me, feelings that are softened by humour and my affection for the homeland.
The most abiding influence on my photographs of the Saskatchewan prairie has been The New Topographics. An influential group of photographers, first exhibited in 1975 and including Lewis Baltz, Robert Adams, Frank Gohlke and Nicholas NIxon, they took an anti-aesthetic approach to the western landscape, at odds with the nature romance of Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. They documented western landscapes inscribed by the effects of human habitation, neither celebrating nor condemning.
The perspective of Robert Adams in particular has stuck with me over the years. He has written that if the proper goal of art is Beauty, the Beauty that concerns him is that of Form. Such Beauty reveals the form and structure underlying life. Form is beautiful because it helps us meet our worst fear, the suspicion that life may be chaos and therefore without meaning. We judge art by whether it reveals to us important Form that we ourselves have experienced but to which we have not paid adequate attention. Successful art rediscovers Beauty for us.
I believe in what Robert Adams says, some of the time. Other times, I can take pleasure in, and laugh out loud at the ironies of life--life on the prairies, my own life.
The colour photographs are from my 2005 book, Saskatchewan: Uncommon Views.
When the book was published, I was most delighted by one reviewer’s quip: “If the Coen brothers had shot W.O. Mitchell’s Who Has Seen the Wind, it would have looked something like this.”
In a more thoughtful vein, Christopher Weibe best captured my view of the photographs:
“...there is beauty here, yes, but it is not a pretty postcard in itself; rather, the beauty is a crowbar used to pry open our habitual way of seeing—the way we edit and ignore much of what we see around us. The result is a book that is soul-searching, ironic, invigorating, depressing, demystifying, and yet, in the end, that celebrates the enduring power of the place and the transformative potential of dreams.”
Selections of photographs from the book have been shown in solo exhibitions at The Photographers' Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Image 54 Gallery, Calgary, Alberta; Drabinsky Gallery, Toronto, Ontario; and at The School of the Photographic Arts, Ottawa, Ontario. My work is represented by Drabinsky Gallery in Toronto, Ontario. A number of prints are in the collection of the Saskatchewan Arts Board.
The black and white pictures are from a book project with my writer friend, John Sifton: Anhedonia, Sask: The Lost HIstory. A Photographic Novel. The book has been submitted to a few publishers. In John’s words:
“The novel is off-beat and occasionally melancholy, with twisted, sometimes surreal humour
directed at a number of sacred prairie cows such as religion, politics and rural life. The
photographs in the book are similarly intended to evoke a sense of a very particular place – the
prairie surrounding Anhedonia, Saskatchewan. The images are austere and enigmatic, often
melancholy and sometimes strangely humorous. A few photos depict places and people in the
story. Mostly, the photographs interact with the story obliquely and metaphorically, as indeed
the story itself interacts with reality only obliquely and metaphorically. But the mood – the
melancholy, strangeness and quirkiness – of the place is always evoked.”
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September 2010
I submitted two of my Saskatchewan photographs to the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada" that is putting together an historical record of Indian Residential Schools and making recommendations to government.
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December 2009
"Cannibal Cafe, Roatan, Honduras" was auctioned in a fund raiser for The Council of the Arts in Ottawa, Ontario (http://art-ottawa.on.ca).
October 2009
My writer friend John Sifton and I presented a slide show -- recent photographs of mine from Saskatchewan along with an excerpt from John's novella "Anhedonia: The Lost HIstory" -- at a SlideLuck Potshow, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario (www.slideluckpotshow.com go to Ottawa then go to John Conway). A teaser for our book project.
June 2009
A self-portrait is included in the summer show at the Red Gallery, SPAO, in Ottawa, Ontario as part of a festival celebrating Josef Karsh, the well known portrait photographer (www.spao.ca).
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February 2009
A selection of 12 of my Saskatchewan photographs is being published in Artitsts' Showcase Portfolio, Second Edition by The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado http://www.c4fap.org/exhibitions/2009Portfolio2/conway/index.htm
January 2009
A favorite of my Saskatchewan photographs is the cover image for Geist 71, Winter 2008-09, a favorite magazine (www.geist.com).
October 2007
A selection of my Saskatchewan photographs was exhibited at the Red Wall Gallery, The School of the Photographic Arts, Ottawa, Ontario (www.spao.ca).
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