Jay Isaac (born 1975) is a Canadian artist based in Rowley, New Brunswick, Canada. He is known primarily for his painting, but he has produced numerous projects within the social sphere."The New Old Abstraction: Contemporary Canadian painters look back to earlier examples - Canadian Art" . He was founder, editor, publisher, and designer of Hunter and Cook magazine (2009–2011).Cootauco, Maria (29 July 2011). "Q&A: Toronto artist Jay Isaac on the state of art in the city". He founded and ran the @nationalgalleryofcanada Instagram account (2014–2016). He founded and co-runs Peter Estey Fine Art, an auction house dedicated to presenting idiosyncratic historical Canadian art (2018–present). Isaac is represented by Paul Petro Contemporary Art in Toronto.
Early life and education Isaac was born in Saint John, New Brunswick and is of Lebanese descent. He attended Cardiff School of Art and Design in Wales in 1996 and graduated from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 1997.
Career In 2020, Isaac was awarded a Chalmers Fellowship through the Ontario Arts Council to research historic mural production in former Soviet Ukraine and Georgia and New Deal era murals from the United States. This research developed into a series of large scale paintings titled Mural Studies, which were exhibited at Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto, in 2021.
In 2018, the Toronto publisher Swimmers Group published "Like a Baby I Was Born Again", a book of Isaac’s drawings. The drawings were surreal, social and political commentary cartoons. Two of the drawings were exhibited at The Brucke Museum in Berlin.
His series "Second Eye", which was exhibited at Monte Clark Gallery, Toronto in 2012, was fabricated using a combination of unsold furniture items from a small antique shop he ran in Toronto and unresolved works in his studio. The amalgamation of the two "failed" components produced idiosyncratic sculptural works that writer Ben Portis described as "the nerviest gallery encounter of the year".Border Crossings magazine, volume 32, issue 125, page 101-102
Between 2005–2010, Isaac collaborated with musician Lorenz Peter to create Bay of Creatures, an experimental music project. A compilation was released by Toronto label Paper+Sound in 2017. Compilation
Selected exhibits Group Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, MB, 2024 560 Gallery, Vancouver, BC, 2023 Season Gallery, Seattle, WA, 2020 Brucke Museum, Berlin, 2019 McIntosh Gallery, London ON, 2019 Beaverbrook Art Gallery, 2014 Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), 2010 Art Gallery of Ontario, 2009 Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 2007 Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, 2006 The Power Plant, 2004 White Columns, 2004 Bologna Gallery of Modern Art, 2002
Solo "Drawings 1996-2023", Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto, 2025 "Pitch Assembling", Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto, 2023 "Log Pile Variations", James Fuentes, New York, NY, 2022 "Mural Studies", Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto, 2021 "Midnight Repairs", Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto, 2019 "High Gloss Ceilings", Cooper Cole, Toronto, 2017 Monte Clark Gallery, 2012 and 2014 Paul Petro Contemporary Art, 2010 CUE art foundation, 2005 Mercer Union, 2002
Collections Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, Toronto The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg Manotiba Museum London, London, ON Ivey School of Business, London, ON Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, NB
Selected publications Off the Grid, Abstract Painting in New Brunswick, 2014, Beaverbrook Art Gallery Fantasy Art Now, 2014, ed. Jay Isaac & Sebastian Frye, Swimmer's Group, 60 Painters, 2012 Triumphant Carrot: The Persistence of Still Life, 2010, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver Hunter and Cook, 2008-2011, periodical, issues #01-10, Jay Isaac and Tony Romano Carte Blanche, Vol. 2: Painting, 2008, Magenta Foundation Jay Isaac, 2005, Cue Foundation, NY Officina America, 2002, Museum of Modern Art, Bologna, Italy Selling Out and Buying In, 2002, BizArt, Shanghai
Selected works
References
External links Jay Isaac Web Paul Petro Comptempary Art Peter Estey Fine Art Bay of Creatures