Mark Laver (Canadian, b. 1970)

Is it strange I should change, I don't know, why don't you ask her?, 2021

I don't really wanna hear you say, it shouldn't really be this way, 'cause I like this way just fine, C. 2012

Sprawling, grandiose and exhilarating landscape paintings from Vancouver-based artist Mark Laver.

Laver is an artist from rural Vancouver Island who studied studio art at Camosun College before receiving a Double Major in History in Art and Philosophy at the University of Victoria. In his mid-twenties, he was involved in a "controversial art cult" in Victoria BC where he studied contemporary science, existentialism, phenomenology, and the history of pictorial space in painting. After a complete break with that community, he explored the visual language of car accidents and structure fires through a series of paintings inspired by found photographs. It wasn't until 2014 that he shifted his focus to creating strange and dark landscapes, a subject matter which appeared seemingly out of nowhere.