Jason Stovall brings to painting a practiced knowledge of how bodies carry tension and what that pressure can become. He is informed by a queer perspective and an upbringing in Fort McMurray’s industrial, religious, and conservative landscape, and deepened by seven years of professional tattooing. Stovall paints figures in states of psychological reflection and tumult that “behave” atypically. Caught between singular and collective states, his paintings negotiate the body as a site of accumulated pressure, weighted by what it is asked to contain. Elements of humour, like balloons, colourful hair, or contorted bodies, are used to complement the complexities of life, from eroticism, interconnectedness, and our own internal monologue.

Stovall (b. 1989) holds a BFA from the University of Alberta (2012) and an MFA from Western University (2016). His work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions across Canada, including THIN SKIN at McIntosh Gallery, London, Ontario, and Fresh Paint/New Construction at Art Mûr, Montréal. His paintings are held in the Senvest Collection of New Canadian Art and in private collections internationally. He is the recipient of the Joseph Plaskett Painting Award and a finalist for the Salt Spring National Art Prize. Stovall lives and works on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.