Geoff McFetridge explores the relationship between images and language, focusing on how images can exist outside of conventional linguistic structures. This perspective fosters a more open-minded approach to cognition. In his paintings, images take on a linguistic quality; as McFetridge states, “it should feel like something, rather than look like something.” The pictorial spaces he creates allow for fluid interpretations, with definitions that are not fixed. Many of his paintings whimsically engage with the bodily experience of design, utilizing simplified figures to reflect on forms and collective experiences, as indicated by their titles.

McFetridge earned his BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design and his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. He was a participant in the influential Beautiful Losers exhibition, which premiered in downtown New York in 1991 and subsequently toured internationally. He has continued to showcase his work in galleries worldwide, including Cooper Cole in Toronto, Contemporary Calgary in Calgary, Half Gallery in New York, V1 Gallery in Copenhagen, Gallery Target and PlayMountain in Tokyo, and Heath Gallery in Los Angeles. Additionally, McFetridge’s work has been featured in museum exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Santa Monica Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Yale University Art Museum in New Haven, the Museum of African American Art (MAAA), and The Geffen Contemporary at MoCA in Los Angeles.

Born 1971, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA