Casey McGlynn
(1970–)
Casey McGlynn
1970–
Casey McGlynn (1970– ) is a Canadian multi-media artist. Drawing on a surrealist pop art style and Toronto’s early punk rock scene, his highly referential artworks are full of symbolism, presenting an autobiographical account of McGlynn’s life while leaving space for the viewer to insert their own experience.
Born in Tillsonburg, a small town in rural Ontario, McGlynn is mainly a self-taught artist. He spent his youth drawing in front of the TV. He went on to obtain formal training through a degree in interdisciplinary studies at the Ontario College of Art and Design, graduating in 1997. He currently lives and works in Toronto.
Over the years, McGlynn has developed his own symbolic language rich in archetypal and allegorical content. Common symbols repeated throughout his body of work includes a large man that represents McGlynn himself, a bird that symbolizes a female friend, and horses that symbolize memories and his past life. Extending beyond McGlynn’s autobiographical connection to the work, his visual composites also aim to narrate collective memory, revealing emotions and documenting facts about the world and our common experience.
His symbolic composites draw on the historic structure of glyphs, rural southern quilts, early comic books, humor, and raw realism. The multi-media pieces are focused on painting and collage, and they contain highly saturated colours with figurative elements outlined in black. He often paints directly on raw canvas which remains visible between his painted symbols.
Since 1999, McGlynn has been represented by Bau-Xi Gallery. His work has been exhibited in Canada, the United States, and the Netherlands in over twenty-seven solo exhibitions. In 2005, a retrospective of his autobiographical works was held at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in Colorado. His work is also held in a number of public and private collections, including the HBC Global Art Collection in New York.
