Artist File
This Young Canadian Artist Explores Ontario Landscapes With Colour And Connectivity
Published on April 16, 2025
Twenty-three-year-old artist Jack Cocker is developing his own visual language with great success. In paintings that often feature a person in a landscape, the Norwich, Ont., native explores notions of memory, connectivity and authenticity.
Jack’s style is figurative; his works are inspired by something familiar to him that he then explores and expands upon in order to create a fully formed painting. Much of the imagery has autobiographical undertones, with typically southwestern Ontario landscapes, and figures and their interests connected to his own life.
He received his BFA in Studio Art from Western University in 2023. Now represented by Michael Gibson Gallery, Jack has received several awards including the 2023 Gray Creative Arts Award in Visual Arts, and was named One to Watch by the website Canadian Art Junkie.
Some of Jack’s more intimate works are small studies that he later develops into larger scenes. I find this fascinating because, while you can see a connection between the initial study and the larger finished canvas, there are often significant changes in palette, form and subject.
I find the sense of normal, everyday activity in the artist’s paintings particularly appealing. Be it skiing, basketball or simply being by the water, Jack seems to want to capture the human spirit and connect to what is real. There are no lofty pretenses of “high art.” Across the works, many figures demonstrate a sameness, often depicted in a moment of leisure. He captures these moments without fanfare and we recognize ourselves in them — there’s a sense of familiarity.
Portrait (Studio at Dusk) (2023–2024). 96″ x 72″.
Here, Jack clearly paints himself into the work and includes other works that exist in real life. “The choice to include paintings within other paintings comes from my day-to-day life,” says Jack. “I spend an average of eight to 10 hours working in the studio each day. I’m just a big geek about painting itself, so references to paintings are bound to find their way into my work.”
Untitled (Renting) (2024). 14″ x 11″.
This small study features a figure emerging from a yellow building, and there’s a pleasing use of green that is neither natural nor out of place. Then, in the fully realized painting, Renting, the scene is entirely different, depicting two figures carrying a canvas. While the differences are noticeable, it’s the starting point that’s intriguing: here remains the yellow building and the unnatural green, and an idea somehow gets formed between the two works. It’s delightful to be able to watch Jack’s process unfold, as his studies are also finished works in their own right.
Orange Skier (2024). 14″ x 11″.
One of the aspects of Jack’s work I like the most is his colour palette. His range of colour exceeds what is commonly seen in figurative and landscape works. It allows the viewer to recognize a feeling, not just an experience. This seen in Orange Skier, which shows a skier carrying his skis beside a mountain. The colour of the sky is beyond the realm of possibility, but that’s clearly the point — the emotion stirred is one of nostalgia and adventure rather than seeking a definitive truth. I think Jack’s desire to strive for human connectivity in an increasingly disconnected and polarized society is admirable, needed and beautiful.
Renting (2023–2024). 801/4″ x 96″.
“My tendency toward bright colours stems from not wanting the paintings to resemble real life too much,” Jack says. “I don’t want my paintings to be observational or based in realism — they should exist as paintings, first and foremost. I’ve started using a palette that focuses more on light and the feelings it can evoke.”
Jack’s a young artist with a lot of promise; he’s already won multiple awards and had two solo exhibitions, plus his work was acquired by the Ivey Business School the year he graduated. It’s an exciting time to collect his work — Jack is painting full time, and I’m looking forward to seeing where his work goes and following along with this artist’s burgeoning career. Pricing starts at $650 for works on paper, and $950 for oil on linen.
Diana Hamm of WK ART is a Toronto art adviser. A graduate of Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London, U.K., Diana focuses on contemporary art and discovering emerging artists. She also advises private clients on acquisitions and collection building.
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