VMF Academy Collection Artist: Luke Ramsey
Luke Ramsey exhibits internationally with freehand drawings and contemporary paintings, and works in public art, murals, illustration and collaboration. His client list includes The New York Times, The Cartoon Network, Patagonia, and The BC Children’s Hospital and more. Luke’s paintings are in collections with The Government of Canada and The City of Seattle. His collaborative mural with Josh Holinaty won a National Urban Design Medal from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Luke's book Intelligent Sentient? is published by Drawn & Quarterly, and was nominated for a Doug Wright Award. From 2016-2018 Luke was The City of Victoria’s Artist in Residence. He currently lives on the Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada.
Luke has painted two large scale and uniquely placed murals for VMF that have completely transformed the space in which they exist. His piece for VMF2020, “Horizon Flow”, is a multi-wall mural that spans several floors, creating a different experience with each level inside the parkade and stairwell of 1055 Eveleigh Street. His 2018 mural in Mount Pleasant at 201 East 14th Ave is one of the only murals in Vancouver that you’ll find painted on the ground, completely transforming a simple road into a bright, public square.
We’re excited to have Luke as a part of the VMF Academy Collection. His print, ‘Hands for Eyes’, “is about human connection. The desire to touch, to lend a hand, to reflect. It shows personalities inside and out — our true selves within and the outward pieces of ourselves we use to connect.” We connected with him to dive deeper into the meaning behind this stunning piece and talk about what he’s been up to since the Mural Festival last August!
VMF: Can you speak a little more about the overlapping figures in this piece and what they represent?
LR: There is bird and a bear, I often have animals appear in my work.
VMF: Your statement on the piece relates to many topics of conversation about experiences with the pandemic the last year. Was there any inspiration drawn from that with this piece?
LR: Yeah, I miss physical connection with people, touch, shaking hands, high fives, hugs, speaking moistly at the pub etc. My wife and I are fortunate to have each other, and we recently got a puppy and I hug him and play wrestle with a him a bunch. The hands for eyes in the piece is about all touch. It’s also about how different parts of our personalities show up during something immense like a world pandemic. Gosh, so many things about it seem so weird to me.
VMF: You’ve been painting some incredible murals recently (we especially love the one on Texada Island!). Do you have any favourites or ones with particularly memorable experiences?
LR: Ah thanks. Each mural has a personal story and memory, hard to pick a favorite as I’ve done over 25 murals. I did one for The Cool Aide Society in Victoria a few years ago. It’s one that is extra special to me. Painted it during that wild summer of forest fire smoke. It is located at the end of China town and high up on a brick wall. The recent Texada mural was a joy to get outside in the sun after a long grey winter with shorter days and no travel. The mural I did last year for VMF/Bentall is definitely my proudest accomplishment in a mural, as it was a lot of coverage and variety of freestyle imagery on six floors. Grateful I had a supportive team with that project.
VMF: What’s on the horizon for you in 2021?
LR: I have a solo exhibition in September at Mayberry Fine Art in Toronto. Stoked to get painting for this one as it’s my first exhibit with Mayberry.