To call Jimy Sloan an emerging artist, would be to use a misnomer.  Rather than emerge, he exploded onto the art scene with works of astounding maturity. Graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, he boasts a style that is utterly contemporary and deliciously audacious.

The scope of his art is large, and ambitious. He sees his paintings "transform through a process of distillation and media exchange, engaging aspects of historical and contemporary modes of representation." Translated onto canvas, his words become but an echo against the rich visual landscape that is his oeuvre. There is a cosmic aspect to his compositions; fluid, unencumbered brushstrokes invoke the human form against an abstracted, vast background, at times reminiscent of the work of contemporary German painter, Daniel Richter and his large figures, inspired by newspaper images and historical publications. Sloan also draws inspiration from the media and other sources to create his pictorial lexicon, giving his paintings a sense of immediacy. There is implied movement, even speed; images overlap and separate. Painted in bright, almost psychedelic colours against an inky background, the forms explode and pulsate. In Animal House they seem distorted by movement, edging into abstraction, morphing in front of the viewer. The solitary figure in a work titled In a Sense of Innocence resembles an astronaut suspended in space, a shape composed of colour and frenetic lines, inchoate, or maybe in the process of dissipating. Sloan's audacious use of the palette stands in place of the narrative, which the titles of his works seem to insinuate. Bold and expressive, the paintings are in constant dialogue within the confines of the frames, free to escape at any moment, appearing in constant flux. In Place to Stand, the central figure is accompanied by lines and dots, suspended amid an entire universe of abstract swirls and loops. It is as if the multicoloured form was unravelling, or, again, perhaps taking shape. This duality, a subtle dichotomy, in Sloan's compositions creates a vibrant visual discourse. Deciphering the narrative is left to the eye of the beholder, the beauty of the image self-evident. It lies not only in the physical, pictorial aspect of his paintings but also in the innocence of which they are born. There is something sincere, not to say humble, in Sloan's approach. It is due to some degree to his age, but more so, to his personal vision.  It would not be a stretch to compare him to Peter Doig, whose figurative works possess the same boundless energy. Doig's art has been called 'Metamodernism' for lack of a better term, one that could also be applied to Sloan. Defined by 'naivety' and 'pragmatic idealism' it is an attempt, yet again, to find a label where none is needed. Sloan's paintings carry their own visual manifesto, and are the product of an inquisitive, and as yet unfettered, creative spirit. They are also, inevitably, the product of the modern era, where the constant, relentless deluge of images and data inexorably moulds and distorts our reality. The 'transitional space' he creates in his works echoes this, as do his fragmented, fraying figures. Seen from that perspective, they are a portrait of a modern being, one composed of pixels and bytes, of binary lines and graphs. Tossed and jostled by these visible and invisible currents, it has lost its static form and is in the grip of a transformation beyond its control. Rather than imply a new shape, Sloan leans towards abstraction, as his latest works-in-progress seem to suggest. Giving full rein to colour, he is opting for a graphic approach, with loose lines and colour patches forming an oscillating, undulating composition. Somewhere between these two pictorial universes, Sloan is building a new imagery, a harbinger of a bold contemporary style that will have critics scrambling for a definition. Let it be.

Qualifier Jimy Sloan d’artiste en émergence serait une erreur. Plutôt que d’émerger, il a explosé sur la scène artistique avec des œuvres d’une maturité stupéfiante. Diplômé du Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, il se targue d’un style tout à fait contemporain et délicieusement audacieux.

Reproduites sur la toile, les paroles de Jimy Sloan ne sont qu’un écho dans le riche paysage visuel de son œuvre. Ses compositions présentent un aspect cosmique, ses touches de pinceau fluides et libres évoquent la forme humaine sur un fond vaste et abstrait. Elles rappellent parfois les grandes figures du peintre allemand contemporain Daniel Richter, inspirées d’images de journaux et de publications historiques. Pour constituer son lexique pictural, il puise également dans les médias et d’autres sources, ce qui confère à ses tableaux une certaine immédiateté. Dans un mouvement implicite, presque fugace, les images se chevauchent et se séparent. Sur le fond d’un noir d’encre, les formes de couleurs vives, presque psychédéliques, explosent et vibrent. L’audace de sa palette se substitue à la narration, apparemment suggérée par les titres de ses œuvres. Hardies et expressives, les toiles maintiennent un dialogue constant à l’intérieur des cadres. Elles semblent en perpétuel mouvement, prêtes à s’échapper à l’instant. Cette dualité, une dichotomie subtile, provoque une vibration visuelle dans les compositions de Jimy Sloan. Le décryptage du récit dépend de la personne qui l’observe, mais la beauté de l’image reste évidente. Elle réside non seulement dans l’aspect physique et pictural de ses tableaux, mais aussi l’ingéniosité de leur création. Les peintures de Sloan diffusent leur propre manifeste visuel, produit d’un esprit inquisiteur, imaginatif et sans entraves. Elles sont, inévitablement, le produit de l’ère moderne où le déluge constant et implacable d’images et de données façonne et déforme inexorablement la réalité. On en retrouve l’écho dans l’« espace de transition » créé dans les œuvres de cet artiste, tout comme dans ses figures fragmentées et effilochées. Vues dans cette optique, ces toiles font le portrait d’un être moderne, composé de pixels et d’octets, de lignes binaires et de graphiques. Quelque part entre ces univers picturaux, Jimy Sloan construit une nouvelle imagerie, signe avant-coureur d’un style contemporain audacieux, que les critiques peinent à définir.