Tony Durke June 29 - July 30

Tony was born in Victoria, Canada in 1973 and raised in a small town, where it was normal to drive around, drunk, in pick-up trucks and shoot at road signs with hunting rifles.
He spent his youth listening to Michael Jackson, whilst drawing pictures of gore and violence. It was before the age of the internet or even much TV, so Tony and his gang of friends would draw it all on large sheets of paper with pencil crayons and felt pens.
When he was 14, Tony discovered Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Pink Floyd and a distaste for authority. This would persist for the rest of his life.
He started to spend a lot of time in art class and away from other classes. School was tedious when it came to science and math, he preferred reading, writing and making art.
He decided to hop a commercial fishing boat to Haida Gwaii when he was 17 and spent the next seven years at sea, learning how to be what he describes as "what I thought was a man" 
Working in isolation with "crazy rednecks" and risking life and limb on the high seas took it's toll on him and he left the nomadic life and settled into years of making art, writing stories, travelling and going to school. Some say avoiding reality.

Tony attended arts and creative classes at VIU, Canadian College and went to school for film in 1999. Upon completion of his studies, he began to work in the film and TV industry in Vancouver and has been there ever since.
Tony began painting full time in 2003 and it continues to be his greatest passion. He has undergone many transformations in his style and use of mediums.
He started working with wood about 7 years ago. Oil and pigments on carved wood is his chosen medium and he continues to refine the style.
Living in a place where the leading industry was logging, making art on lumber seemed the natural choice.
Most of his pieces are on recycled wood that he scavenges from the sets he works on. 

Tony has had a few showings in the last few years, in Vancouver, Toronto, Seattle and Melbourne. When asked why he waited so many years to start showing his work, he says that there was, "a lot of crud art out there and I didn't want to be part of that."
"I feel now that I have done my time and learned my craft well enough to show it to people and be proud of it."