36” x 36” Acrylics on Canvas 2026
[EXITING_ARCADIA]
Ar·ca·dia (utopia): refers to a vision of the pastoral and a harmony with nature. The term is derived from the Greek province of the same name which dates to antiquity; the province's mountainous topography and sparse population of pastoralists later caused the word Arcadia to develop into a poetic byword for an idyllic vision of unspoiled wilderness.
The philosopher Nick Bostrom wrote that one way of looking at human creativity is as a process of pulling possible ideas, discoveries and technological inventions out of a giant urn. We can invent but we cannot un-invent. Our strategy is to hope that there is no technology that invariably or by default destroys the civilization that invents it.
In this collection of paintings are stories and symbols that reflect on how the engine of human progress has taken us far from the pastoral gardens of our civilizational youth and now we find ourselves in a position in which we are reaching desperately into the urn of invention to grasp at technologies that might redeem us from our transgressions. Spanning themes of habitat migration to artificial intelligence, war and beyond, these paintings are an invitation into a whimsical place that marvels at the sublimity of nature and our place amongst it.
John F. Ross (b. 1984, Toronto, Canada) is a Canadian painter creating contemporary works charged with personal and sociopolitical narratives. A graduate of Studio Art from York University, John has been exhibiting his work since 2006 in Ontario and Alberta and can be found in private collections across Canada and Europe.
John lives and works in Calgary.
36” x 36” Acrylics on Canvas 2026
[EXITING_ARCADIA]
Ar·ca·dia (utopia): refers to a vision of the pastoral and a harmony with nature. The term is derived from the Greek province of the same name which dates to antiquity; the province's mountainous topography and sparse population of pastoralists later caused the word Arcadia to develop into a poetic byword for an idyllic vision of unspoiled wilderness.
The philosopher Nick Bostrom wrote that one way of looking at human creativity is as a process of pulling possible ideas, discoveries and technological inventions out of a giant urn. We can invent but we cannot un-invent. Our strategy is to hope that there is no technology that invariably or by default destroys the civilization that invents it.
In this collection of paintings are stories and symbols that reflect on how the engine of human progress has taken us far from the pastoral gardens of our civilizational youth and now we find ourselves in a position in which we are reaching desperately into the urn of invention to grasp at technologies that might redeem us from our transgressions. Spanning themes of habitat migration to artificial intelligence, war and beyond, these paintings are an invitation into a whimsical place that marvels at the sublimity of nature and our place amongst it.
John F. Ross (b. 1984, Toronto, Canada) is a Canadian painter creating contemporary works charged with personal and sociopolitical narratives. A graduate of Studio Art from York University, John has been exhibiting his work since 2006 in Ontario and Alberta and can be found in private collections across Canada and Europe.
John lives and works in Calgary.
