I am currently working on a new documentary about the artist John Devlin and his intensive decades-long drawing project Nova Cantabrigiensis. Although we are more or less neighbours (living not too far away from each other in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia) I first encountered his work in 2014 at the Christian Berst Art Gallery in Paris. Shortly afterwards, I interviewed him for this piece I wrote in Visual Arts News magazine: Escape to New Cambridge.

This will be an experimental biopic about John's work and life as an artist. The film's anticipated release date is sometime in 2026.

John's Bio:

John Devlin was born in Halifax NS in 1954. He studied at Dalhousie University, TUNS (architecture) and Cambridge University (theology), but is mainly self-taught. Drawing for therapy since 1984, he had solo shows at King’s College, Cambridge in 2010, Paris in 2013 and again at the AGNS (Halifax and Yarmouth) in 2015-16. He has been exhibited since 1988 and more frequently (mainly in Europe) since 2013. He lives and draws in Dartmouth NS.

John's Artist Statement:

I make art because I am searching for beauty. I was profoundly moved by the architecture of Cambridge University when I studied there in 1979-80. Since returning to Nova Scotia, I have been designing a utopian city to be built in the middle of the Minas Basin, NS. An Outsider artist, or creator of art brut, I am always inspired to draw from within. Intrigued by the Golden Section, I try to incorporate some subliminal, architectural structure into my work based on ideal numbers.