Born in 1973 in Ontario, Canada, Monteith began his formal education studying at the Ontario College of Art and Design graduating in 1997 with a dip...
Born in 1973 in Ontario, Canada, Monteith began his formal education studying at the Ontario College of Art and Design graduating in 1997 with a diploma in drawing and painting. During his undergraduate studies, he spent a semester at Art Center in Pasadena California studying photography and a year in Florence, Italy studying the paintings of the Renaissance Masters.
Upon graduating, he spent a year and a half in London, England immersing himself in contemporary art of the new generation of British Artists. While in London he maintained a studio and began to produce paintings exploring themes of impermanence and identity.
Returning from London in 1999, he began showing in group exhibitions in Toronto, Canada, while developing a body of work in preparation for his first major solo show in 2002 at the Burston Gallery within the recently established Queen St West contemporary gallery district.
In 2004, Monteith spent two months traveling through Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo researching the traditional and post WW II art, architecture and culture of Japan. This work greatly influenced his current production through the exploration of Buddhist notions of time as experienced within the temporal philosophies of On Kawara, the spatial relationships of traditional Japanese print and Nihonga painting, as well as the philosophy of the “Super Flat” as introduced by Takashi Murakami.
During the summer after his return from Japan, he continued to maintain a rigorous studio practice, creating two solo exhibitions in 2004 and 2006, both exhibited at XEXE Gallery in Toronto. In that time he also contributed to a large number of group exhibitions including a survey exhibition of the new generation of Winnipeg and Toronto Artists at Gallery Neubacher. In November 2005 he presented a collaborative installation with Bruno Billio, resident sculptor of the Gladstone Hotel and Christopher House, celebrated director and choreographer of the Toronto Dance Theatre for the Toronto Alternative Art fair international (TAAFI) at the Gladstone Hotel.
Monteith's awards include an emerging artist grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, a project grant from the Toronto Arts Council, 14 commissioned drawings from the Powerplant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto, and the Dean’s Scholarship at Parsons the New School for Design. His work continues to be represented in Toronto through XEXE Gallery, and publications including British Good Housekeeping, Dojo Magazine, Toronto Life, Highrise magazine, Style, Xtra, and TORO Magazine.
Currently, Monteith's work is primarily oil and watercolor pencil on Mylar.
John Monteith's Website
The XEXE Gallery
