(Canada, b. 1983)
Janna Watson（Canada, b. 1983）uses abstraction as both an escape from and return to the real. As the world we know dematerializes into paint strokes, so too does her paint take stage as its very own character in a multi-act drama of composition. Bundles of colour, made up of discrete yet inseparable instances of pigment—what Watson refers to as “moments”—are teeming and poised as though caught mid-multiplication. Sweeps of paint re-direct sharply and fold over themselves; thin, rigid ink lines cut into the pictorial field as rudimentary elements in an increasingly complex system of painterly language. All the components play out on a surface of slow, chromatic gradation. Like many of Watson’s players, these backdrops tenderly gesture toward the familiar, stopping just short of representation. The result is a conceptual project (and distinct, stylistic signature) that speaks to a contemporary milieu in which abstract painting is not the retreat of meaning into an unrecognizable realm, but rather the emergence of medium as a “figure” in its own self-inscribed world of feeling and being. Watson does more than reveal paint’s potential to emote—she gives it a space to reveal itself, in its own time.
Janna Watson holds an honours degree in Drawing and Painting from the Ontario College of Art and Design, and since graduating has exhibited extensively across Canada and internationally in over thirty solo exhibitions. Her work has appeared in notable public collections including those of TD Bank, CIBC, Telus, the Ritz-Carlton, ONi ONE, the Soho Metropolitan Hotel, and Saks Fifth Avenue. In 2013, she was commissioned to create an impressive, 11 x 32 ft painting for the lobby of AURA, Canada’s tallest residential building. Watson’s paintings circulate regularly at international fairs, including Art Toronto, CONTEXT Art Miami, and in Seattle, where they were recently featured by Artsy in its list of “10 Works to Collect at the Seattle Art Fair.” Watson’s work has been covered by publications such as The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, NOW Magazine, and House & Home.
Solo Exhibitions
2022 Float, Laura Rathe Fine Art , Houston
2022 Blue Moon, Blue Ocean, Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2021 Seven Perfect Syllables, Kenise Barnes Fine Art , Connecticut
2021 Fruit For The Loom ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2021 Finding Joy ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2020 Falling Forward ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2020 Dragging A Thought Over, Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2019 Seven Perfect Syllables ,Foster White Gallery , Seattle
2019 In the Fog Everything I See Is Mine ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2019 Strange Legacy ,Kenise Barnes Fine Art , New York
2019 Suspended In Time, Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2018 Moody As Light ,Foster White Gallery , Seattle
2018 Patterns Of Up and Down ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2018 Light Is Heavy ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2017 Heavy with Dreams, Foster White Gallery , Seattle
2017 Still Life ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2017 Something In The Air, Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2016 Talking To Orchids ,Foster White Gallery , Seattle
2016 The Body Moves ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2016 There Is No Dimmer, Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2015 Out Of Line ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2014 Silent Ocean ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2014 New Paintings ,Couture Galleri , Stockholm
2013 A Line With A Mind Of Its Own, Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2013 Levitation ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2013 Inside: I Burst to Flames ,Couture Galleri , Stockholm
2012 Magic Is Also Involved ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2012 When Poets Hallucinate ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2012 Come Up To My Room ,Gladstone Hotel , Toronto
2011 Rooms With No Floors ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2011 Put a Straight Jacket On A Fire, Gallery 1313 , Toronto
2010 Light Is Not Heavy ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2010 Overexcited Sensitivity ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2009 The Objects Have Lost Their Colour, Median Contemporary , Toronto
2008 Wet Tambourine ,Fute Design , Toronto
2007 Nervous Laughter, Soho Gallery , Toronto
2006 Janna Watson ,River Salon , Toronto
Group Exhibitions
2022 Midnight Bloom, Laura Rathe Fine Art , Dallas
2022 On Cloud 9 ,Laura Rathe Fine Art , Dallas
2021 Imagine ,Laura Rathe Fine Art , River Oaks
2021 Art Toronto ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2021 OMG Art Fair ,Kenise Barnes Fine Art , New York
2021 Multimedia Trio Exhibition, Laura Rathe Fine Art , Houston
2021 Winter Showcase ,Kenise Barnes Fine Art , Connecticut
2020 Iris Blue Each Spring, Kenise Barnes Fine Art , Connecticut
2020 Intersect Aspen ,K Contemporary , Denver
2020 Color Theory (Colorado Governor’s Mansion), K Contemporary , Denver
2020 LA Art Show ,K Contemporary , Los Angeles
2019 Holiday ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2019 Method II ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2019 Mixed Media, Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2019 Art Toronto ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2019 FreshFaces ,Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art , Calgary
2018 Holiday ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2018 A Deeper Shade Of Blue, Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2018 Art Toronto, Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2018 Revivify ,Kenise Barnes Fine Art , New York
2017 Holiday ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2017 CONTEXT Miami ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2017 Art Toronto ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2017 Seattle Art Fair, Foster White Gallery , Seattle
2017 Summer ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2017 Focus , New York
2016 CONTEXT Miami, Bau-Xi Gallery , Miami
2016 Through Forest, Sea, and Sky Bau-Xi Gallery , Vancouver
2016 Art Toronto ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2015 CONTEXT Miami ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Miami
2015 Art Toronto ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2015 Seattle Art Fair, Foster White Gallery , Seattle
2014 Art Toronto ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2013 Art Toronto ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Toronto
2012 Miami Scope ,Bau-Xi Gallery , Miami
2011 The Memory Project, Okanagan Heritage Museum , Kelowna
2009 Queen West Art Crawl ,Trinity Bellwoods , Toronto
2009 Art Expo ,Toronto Convention Center , Toronto
2009 Spring Exhibition ,Hamilton Art Gallery , Hamilton
2008 Winter Exhibition ,Hamilton Art Gallery , Hamilton
2008 Queen West Art Crawl ,Trinity Bellwoods , Toronto
2008 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition ,Nathan Phillips Square , Toronto
2008 Our Space is Vast – Transit Space , Toronto
2007 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition ,Nathan Phillip Square , Toronto
2007 Who Dunnit ,OCAD , Toronto
2006 Art Fest ,The Huron , Collingwood
Collection
River Green ,Vancouver
Microsoft ,Toronto
Saks Fifth Avenue, Toronto
Nordstrom ,Canada & US
Hudson’s Bay Company ,New York
Rosa Properties ,Vancouver
The Keg ,Toronto
AURA Condominium ,Toronto
Cenovus Energy Inc. ,Calgary
Oni One ,Toronto
CIBC ,Toronto
GZ International, Toronto
Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada ,Toronto
Relative Space ,Toronto
The Ritz Carlton ,Toronto
Soho Metropolitan Hotel, Toronto
TD Bank Financial Group, Toronto
TELUS ,Toronto
