JOHN SCOTT | Avatar

November 16th – December 7th

Image © Lauren Barless

Nicholas Metivier Gallery is honoured to present John Scott: Avatar, the first exhibition since the artist’s passing in 2022. The exhibition coincides with Firestorm at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, a major solo exhibition that will be the first to focus on his compelling drawings and sculptures dedicated to mechanical inventions of humankind - both military and civilian. A forthcoming catalogue will accompany the McMichael’s exhibition.

John Scott was one of Canadian art’s most incendiary artistic talents. He tackled difficult subjects of politics and war with a disarming and witty approach that resonated on a universal level. His innate understanding and compassion for the human condition, especially its fragility often disguised as blatant machismo, lent his work an air of clairvoyance and timelessness. Given the state of current affairs, Scott’s voice is now more relevant than ever.

Avatar highlights several of Scott’s most iconic paintings and drawings from various periods throughout our time working with Scott from 2004 until 2022. Large-format canvases that were discovered in his studio only recently will be on view alongside seminal drawings. These works grapple with complex themes using his original and inventive characters, namely the hybrid bunny-human and the Dark Commander. The Dark Commander, a menacing figure representing authoritarian power, is often likened to Napoleon while the hybrid bunny-human is seen in many scenarios and in many people including Iron Mike, or Mike Tyson.

“It is both a sign of the artist’s prodigious talent and an indictment of our ceaseless tolerance for war that any of John Scott’s works from the past four decades could have been made next year.”

- Daniel Strong, Associate Director and Curator of Exhibitions, Grinnell College Museum of Art, Iowa, USA. From Dark Commander: The Art of John Scott, a catalogue for the Grinnell College Museum of Art.

The last years of Scott’s life were marked by many successes culminating in a major touring survey exhibition with catalogue, curated by Daniel Strong, presented at the Grinnell College Museum of Art, Iowa, Art Gallery of Hamilton, and the McMaster Museum of Art. Throughout his career, John Scott received numerous accolades, including the inaugural Governor General’s Award in Visual Arts and Media in 2000. His works are held in major collections across Canada and the States, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Image © Lauren Barless

Image © Joseph Hartman, 2011

John Scott

Dark Commander mixed media on canvas 116 ¾ x 53 ¼ in. $ 70,000.00

John Scott

Innocent Pope, 2014 mixed media on canvas 81 x 53 in. $ 48,000.00

John Scott

Shadow of History mixed media on paper 40 x 26 in. $ 10,000.00

John Scott, Riot, 2020, mixed media on paper, 35 x 23 in. SOLD John Scott, Spectacle, 2020, mixed media on paper, 35 x 23 in., $ 9,000.00 John Scott, Wound, 2020, mixed media on paper, 35 x 23 in., $ 9,000.00

John Scott

Red Commander, 2012 lithograph with hand painting and collage 36 x 24 in.

Edition of 20 $ 7,000.00

John Scott

Purple Motorcycle, 2015 mixed media on paper 25 x 38 in. $ 9,000.00

John Scott Teamwork, c. 2011 mixed media on paper 38 x 28 in. $ 10,000.00

John Scott

The Beast from the Earth, 2016 mixed media on paper 31 ¾ x 50 in. $ 12,000.00

John Scott

Stealth Fighter, 2015 mixed media on paper 50 x 38 in. $ 16,000.00