Bio

_{Félix Cano handles painting the way one might use writing: as a way to give shape to elements of his personal emotional universe, which flows from his physical, psychological and cultural environment.  For Cano, painting is a continuous process of creating a vocabulary that is both a vessel and a method for organizing the spectrum of feelings that emerge at the interface with his surroundings.}

_{Cano’s work, though mostly abstract, does allow for a subtle, nebulous type of figuration, and uses the signs and symbols of writing while emptying them of meaning.  Through this approach, narrative and subject can be banished from the paintings while still acknowledging the world, which is alluded to mostly through an unspecified natural environment.  Randomness, accidents and improvisation come into play as part of Cano’s dialogue with painting, between the material nature of abstraction and the intangible emotional reality of daily life.}

_{Within this context Cano explores the contrast between the repetition and variation of an image and its inherent originality and uniqueness.  In his method, developing the craft is as important as creating a particular image, so he is equally interested in the technical challenges of painting, particularly those relating to the use of multiple media.}

_{Cano’s aim is not to invent something new in the avant-garde sense of the term, but rather to find a tool he can use to offer the viewer a playful experience blending aesthetic stimuli and the evocation of language—an experience analogous to the one he undergoes while creating the piece. Primitivism, outsider art, expressionism, abstraction, as well as illustration and design (including calligraphy) have always influenced Cano’s work, either directly or indirectly.}

_{Felix Cano studied Visual arts in the San Carlos Academy in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and Art History in the Université de Québec à Montréal. He has exhibited his work in several group and solo exhibitions in Mexico and Canada and now lives and work in Montreal.}