Canadian renowned artist, Jason McLean, has returned home to showcase his talent at Michael Gibson’s Gallery downtown.
The artist is trying something different this time, showcasing his art on a smart car. McLean doesn’t usually create spectacle pieces, but he says “Coleman’s Cooler” has a wow factor to it.
The car belongs to Michael Gibson, the Director of the Gallery. McLean says the smart car reminded him of a cooler, “I don’t know, there was something about when we painted the surface of it, it reminded me of a surface of a cooler that you would go maybe camping with.”
Jason McLean, Artist, standing beside “Coleman’s Cooler”.
McLean was surrounded by cars growing up. His grandfather owned a dealership; his father worked in sales and his brother was also involved in the automobile industry. McLean thought designing his art on a vehicle was only appropriate after growing up at drag races and car shows.
The smart car features different drawings and words symbolizing stories of McLean’s childhood.
McLean explains that with his art, you have to absorb everything as a whole. He says, “there’s many things going on in my work”, but the meaning comes through when you look at the bigger picture.
McLean has bright, graphic collages with semi-connected words and themes in his most of his pieces of art that relate to pop culture, his daily life and his inner world and struggles with schizophrenia.
McLean often uses his children as inspiration for his art. His son, Henry, drew a picture of Elvis, which he incorporated, in “Coleman’s Cooler”. Even though there isn’t much design in the interior of the car, the artist decided to include Henry’s drawing on the front seat of the vehicle.
McLean lives in Brooklyn with his family, but travels back and forth to London often to visit his parents.
Jennie Kraehling, the Associate Director of Michael Gibson’s Gallery, says that McLean’s “Coleman’s Cooler” along with other pieces of his art will be showcased at the gallery until November 26th. This is McLean’s second solo exhibition at the gallery.
Jason McLean says people should come to his exhibition to, “Get out of the house and get away from their Netflix and their bags of chips.”
