Jonathan Sutton worked as an actor, director, writer and producer in theatre and film for over a decade. The visual art practice that was to become his main artistic focus evolved through these media, and he continues to draw on dramatic, literary, and narrative influences.

His process combines staged photography, Photoshop editing, and realistic drawing and painting. Jonathan works initially with actors or models to stage a live event in a specifically chosen location. This process initiates an interplay between spontaneity and craft that will carry from the initial digital media through to his studio work in oils or graphite, alert to a synthesis between the actual and the surreal.

Jonathan’s international travel, study, practice, and teaching reinforce his identity with Canada as a home whose affinities – at once local and global – reflect and enhance his own. His work specifically honours Canadian realism while smuggling visual and conceptual influences from an array of sources.

Studying at McGill and UBC, Jonathan completed a BA in English Literature (1996), and a BFA in Acting (1997). Jonathan’s work has won awards in Vancouver and Toronto.