Songs of Myself: My Romantic Life
by Gerard Collins
June 7th – 28th, 2025.
Artist Bio
Gerard Collins (b. 1957, Saint John, New Brunswick) is known for his deft and witty explorations of everyday life. Collins’s style is steeped in art historical references incorporated into his paintings of landscapes, flowers, studio interiors, portraits, and anthropomorphized animals. He is one of Canada’s most prolific contemporary painters. Collins often works in series – setting himself up for work that includes challenges, time frames, boundaries, restrictions, and social endeavors.
Collins did his Foundation Year at St. Martin’s School of Art (London, England), and his BFA at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada). As part of his studio degree, he studied with Gerhard Richter at the Dusseldorf Staatliche Kunstakademie (Dusseldorf, West Germany).
Collins’s work can be found in museums and in private and corporate collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Owens Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick Museum, University of New Brunswick, Mount St. Vincent University, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada Council Art Bank, and the New Brunswick Art Bank.
Books for sale, $35 each
Gerard Collins: Fifty Years of Painting by Robert Barriault (published by Goose Lane Editions in 2023).
All works for sale. Please contact info@artcan.com or call 902-582-7071 .
Artist Statement
In “Songs of Myself,” I share the most personal elements of my artistic identity through still life paintings of objects collected over decades. These treasured mementos—puzzle pieces of my creative journey—serve as talismans in my studio, creating the warm, inspiring environment where I work. Each object carries its own story, memory, and emotional resonance that has shaped my artistic vision over time.
The companion exhibition, “Zoomorphism,” celebrates the feline muses who have transformed my studio into a living, breathing creative space. My cats Daphne, Rebekah, and Augustus (Gus) appear throughout these works as spirit guides, historical figures, troublemakers, deities, and royalty. Their distinct personalities and playful presence have inspired a body of work that reveals how the animate and inanimate together form a complete ecosystem of my life and practice.
