John Kissick Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1962 -

John Kissick's paintings are complex undertakings borne from a union of his diverse professional practices. As a painter, critic, teacher and writer, Kissick continually examines his artwork from multiple vantage points. He says, "I am constantly in this ongoing critique mode where I can make something and simultaneously deconstruct it." Always mindful that while his advanced knowledge of the history of abstract art informs his work, he must ultimately rely on his pure and instinctual creativity to produce the masterpieces for which he is so well known. John Kissick attended Queen's University at Kingston (Ontario), Cornell University (New York) and the Harvard Institute for Higher Education (Massachusetts). He taught at Penn State (Pennsylvania) and held the posts of Head of Painting and Head of Critical Studies. Upon moving back to Canada, Kissick was Dean of the Faculty of Art at the Ontario College of Art and Design (Toronto) from 2000-2003 and the Director of the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph until 2014. In 2005, he was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

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    • JOHN KISSICK (1962-), UNTITLED, etching and chine-collé, Image 7.75 ins x 7.75 ins; 19.7 cms x 19.7 cms
      Apr. 13, 2017

      JOHN KISSICK (1962-), UNTITLED, etching and chine-collé, Image 7.75 ins x 7.75 ins; 19.7 cms x 19.7 cms

      Est: -

      JOHN KISSICK (1962-)UNTITLEDetching and chine-collésigned and inscribed “A/P” Image 7.75 ins x 7.75 ins; 19.7 cms x 19.7 cms Provenance:Private Collection, OntarioLiterature:John Kissick, Artist Statement 2010, Accessed 14 February, 2017, http://www.johnkissick.ca/artist_statement_2010_popup.htmlAn artist, writer, curator, and educator, John Kissick examines art from multiple vantage points and is interested in the dialogue between his work, historical conventions and raw visual experience. In an interview from 2012, he stated that he has “...a recurring interest in the relationship between popular culture, popular music, and in contemporary abstraction…I’m interested in that moment in late modernism where the kind of gestures we would normally associate with abstract painting found their way into shag carpeting, basement parties, blacklight, and rock-n-roll….” Kissick attended Queen’s University, Cornell University, and the Harvard Institute for Higher Education. He taught at Penn State and upon moving back to Canada, was the Dean of the Faculty of Art at the OCAD. He was the Director of the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph and is currently a professor there.Estimate: $1,500–2,000

      Waddington's
    • JOHN KISSICK (1962-), UNTITLED, etching and chine-collé, Image 7.75 ins x 7.75 ins; 19.7 cms x 19.7 cms
      Apr. 13, 2017

      JOHN KISSICK (1962-), UNTITLED, etching and chine-collé, Image 7.75 ins x 7.75 ins; 19.7 cms x 19.7 cms

      Est: -

      JOHN KISSICK (1962-)UNTITLEDetching and chine-collésigned and inscribed “A/P” Image 7.75 ins x 7.75 ins; 19.7 cms x 19.7 cms Provenance:Private Collection, OntarioLiterature:John Kissick, Artist Statement 2010, Accessed 14 February, 2017, http://www.johnkissick.ca/artist_statement_2010_popup.htmlAn artist, writer, curator, and educator, John Kissick examines art from multiple vantage points and is interested in the dialogue between his work, historical conventions and raw visual experience. In an interview from 2012, he stated that he has “...a recurring interest in the relationship between popular culture, popular music, and in contemporary abstraction…I’m interested in that moment in late modernism where the kind of gestures we would normally associate with abstract painting found their way into shag carpeting, basement parties, blacklight, and rock-n-roll….” Kissick attended Queen’s University, Cornell University, and the Harvard Institute for Higher Education. He taught at Penn State and upon moving back to Canada, was the Dean of the Faculty of Art at the OCAD. He was the Director of the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph and is currently a professor there.Estimate: $1,500–2,000

      Waddington's
    • JOHN KISSICK (1962-), UNTITLED, etching and chine-collé, Image 7.75 ins x 7.75 ins; 19.7 cms x 19.7 cms
      Apr. 13, 2017

      JOHN KISSICK (1962-), UNTITLED, etching and chine-collé, Image 7.75 ins x 7.75 ins; 19.7 cms x 19.7 cms

      Est: -

      JOHN KISSICK (1962-)UNTITLEDetching and chine-collésigned and inscribed “A/P” Image 7.75 ins x 7.75 ins; 19.7 cms x 19.7 cms Provenance:Private Collection, OntarioLiterature:John Kissick, Artist Statement 2010, Accessed 14 February, 2017, http://www.johnkissick.ca/artist_statement_2010_popup.htmlAn artist, writer, curator, and educator, John Kissick examines art from multiple vantage points and is interested in the dialogue between his work, historical conventions and raw visual experience. In an interview from 2012, he stated that he has “...a recurring interest in the relationship between popular culture, popular music, and in contemporary abstraction…I’m interested in that moment in late modernism where the kind of gestures we would normally associate with abstract painting found their way into shag carpeting, basement parties, blacklight, and rock-n-roll….” Kissick attended Queen’s University, Cornell University, and the Harvard Institute for Higher Education. He taught at Penn State and upon moving back to Canada, was the Dean of the Faculty of Art at the OCAD. He was the Director of the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph and is currently a professor there.Estimate: $1,500–2,000

      Waddington's
    • JOHN KISSICK (1962-), UNTITLED, etching and chine-collé, Image 7.75 ins x 7.75 ins; 19.7 cms x 19.7 cms
      Apr. 13, 2017

      JOHN KISSICK (1962-), UNTITLED, etching and chine-collé, Image 7.75 ins x 7.75 ins; 19.7 cms x 19.7 cms

      Est: -

      JOHN KISSICK (1962-)UNTITLEDetching and chine-collésigned and inscribed “A/P” Image 7.75 ins x 7.75 ins; 19.7 cms x 19.7 cms Provenance:Private Collection, OntarioLiterature:John Kissick, Artist Statement 2010, Accessed 14 February, 2017, http://www.johnkissick.ca/artist_statement_2010_popup.htmlAn artist, writer, curator, and educator, John Kissick examines art from multiple vantage points and is interested in the dialogue between his work, historical conventions and raw visual experience. In an interview from 2012, he stated that he has “...a recurring interest in the relationship between popular culture, popular music, and in contemporary abstraction…I’m interested in that moment in late modernism where the kind of gestures we would normally associate with abstract painting found their way into shag carpeting, basement parties, blacklight, and rock-n-roll….” Kissick attended Queen’s University, Cornell University, and the Harvard Institute for Higher Education. He taught at Penn State and upon moving back to Canada, was the Dean of the Faculty of Art at the OCAD. He was the Director of the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph and is currently a professor there.Estimate: $1,500–2,000

      Waddington's
    • JOHN KISSICK, R.C.A., NO.5 (THE ORDER OF THE PHRASES MAKE...), acrylic on canvas, 66 ins x 66 ins; 167.6 cms x 167.6 cms
      Apr. 13, 2015

      JOHN KISSICK, R.C.A., NO.5 (THE ORDER OF THE PHRASES MAKE...), acrylic on canvas, 66 ins x 66 ins; 167.6 cms x 167.6 cms

      Est: $20,000 - $25,000

      JOHN KISSICK, R.C.A. NO.5 (THE ORDER OF THE PHRASES MAKE...) acrylic on canvassigned, titled and dated 2004 on the reverse 66 ins x 66 ins; 167.6 cms x 167.6 cms Provenance:Private Collection, OntarioLiterature:Kissick, John. Artist Statement, 2004. Accessed 1 March, 2015. http://www.johnkissick.ca/artist_statement_2004_popup.html.Sandals, Leah. Punking Disco, Discoing Punk and... um, Art Education: Q & A with John Kissick in today's National Post. 10 August, 2010. Accessed 28 February, 2015. http://neditpasmoncoeur.blogspot.ca/2010/08/punking-disco-discoing-punk-and-um-art.html.John Kissick: dirty little mind. Video. Michael Gibson Gallery. November 1 - 24, 2012. Accessed 24 February, 2015. http://www.gibsongallery.com/news/kissick-kirkpatrick-video.Note:"So that's why my paintings are like that. I've been trying to punk my disco and disco my punk."John Kissick's paintings are complex undertakings borne from a union of his diverse professional practices. As a painter, critic, teacher and writer, Kissick continually examines his artwork from multiple vantage points. He says, "I am constantly in this ongoing critique mode where I can make something and simultaneously deconstruct it." Always mindful that while his advanced knowledge of the history of abstract art informs his work, he must ultimately rely on his pure and instinctual creativity to produce the masterpieces for which he is so well known. No. 5 (The Order of the Phrases Make...) (2004) reveals Kissick's ability to merge the complicated influences of his artmaking. Drawing from the fundamental elements associated with historical abstract art, Kissick adopts a process-oriented method of working and conveys an impression of spontaneity. Works such as No. 5 (The Order of the Phrases Make...) are highly gestural and emotionally intense, containing vivid colours arranged in excited masses of morphing shapes and snaking lines. While these nods to the past are customary in Kissick's work, he also incorporates imagery from contemporary culture. In an interview from 2012, he stated that he has "...a recurring interest in the relationship between popular culture, popular music and in contemporary abstraction...I'm interested in that moment in late modernism where the kind of gestures we would normally associate with abstract painting found their way into shag carpeting, basement parties, black light and bad rock-n-roll..." He paints shapes that reference graphic design elements popular in recent decades, and then embellishes them with "dot configurations." Kissick draws the viewer's attention to the areas that he has painted over which leave, as he terms it, a "memory trace."Kissick's interest in music and its influence upon his art began with research into the genres of punk and disco from the 1970s and '80s. He says, "I was looking outside of art for something that might be used as a metaphor for my paintings, and I started reading a lot about popular music... What I really loved about this history was the inversion of expectation between genres. Reading about that was my eureka moment where I said, 'So that's why my paintings are like that. I've been trying to punk my disco and disco my punk.'" It is perhaps the hope and expectation of finding a middle ground for his work, a comfortable place for it to exist while honouring the past and the present, that drives his process. John Kissick attended Queen's University at Kingston (Ontario), Cornell University (New York) and the Harvard Institute for Higher Education (Massachusetts). He taught at Penn State (Pennsylvania) and held the posts of Head of Painting and Head of Critical Studies. Upon moving back to Canada, Kissick was Dean of the Faculty of Art at the Ontario College of Art and Design (Toronto) from 2000-2003 and the Director of the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph until 2014. In 2005, he was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

      Waddington's
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