Artist's Statement
Control, power and perfection and their antitheses are some of the recurring themes explored in my work. Painting techniques and imagery have been inspired partly by advertising from the 1940’s to the late ‘60’s.

In several paintings, trapped figures are weighted down and boxed in, contemplating the possibilities of power and perfection in their everyday lives. In others, what we strive for and how we decide to live in order to create personality and status comes under closer scrutiny by highlighting emotion, energy and mimicry in a sea of seemingly banal advertising imagery.

Some of these images are a personal trip down memory lane and a tribute to my parents’ lives in the commercial art and advertising industry.

In loving memory of Bruce Drysdale.

Jennifer Drysdale

Artist's Statement
Over the years, my research has led me from the Black Madonna, a counter-orthodox Christian symbol, to myths and legends surrounding familiar figures from the bible and history. I have also explored moral stories and social legends of guilt and retribution.

Recently I have spent much time thinking about my own ancestors, particularly the women, who lived out their lives under the spell cast by these stories. At present, I am painting and drawing my memories of these people who gave me a rich and enchanted childhood.

Supported by the Ontario Arts Council
Photo of artwork: John Tamblyn

Artist's Statement
Inspired by advertising images from the 1940's and 50's the paintings refer to conformity to an ideal of prosperity and security. They explore the popular idea from that era that man could control nature through technology, thus promising a cleaner, efficient, and prosperous future.

When viewed from a modern day perspective these ideas seem impossibly naive and fatally optimistic. The same technology which improved our modern world has also delivered environmental disasters and a disenchanted public.