Hayden Beck Gallery

Toronto-based painter James Lahey studied art and architecture in Florence, Italy before earning a BFA with Honours at York University. Rejecting the notion that work must unfold in a linear progression, Lahey instead views his practice as cyclical and mutable. He draws his imagery from a vast variety of sources, each holding a different meaning relating to his own personal experience and memory. These varying motifs and styles are visited concurrently and have been re-addressed time after time over a career that has spanned more than twenty years. Describing his own process, he explains “I am interested in the schism between modes of expression, between representation and abstraction, experience and reflection – in rendering the point where chance has its boundary – with paint and painting, inclusive of imperfection and mess.”