Byron Hodgins

Byron Hodgins, Between Two Fields, 2024. Oil on canvas, 54 x 43 in.

"Between Two Fields marks an interesting shift in my practice. Since becoming a parent, I haven’t had as many opportunities to head out and paint en plein air like I used to. But I’ve still carved out studio time, and in that constraint, I found a new approach.

The landscape in Between Two Fields actually comes from the video game Kingdom Come: Deliverance. It’s an open-world game where you can roam through incredibly detailed countryside. I found myself virtually walking through this imagined medieval Bohemia, and when I came across a particular view, it resonated. I set up in the studio and painted directly from the screen.

So in a way, the painting is suspended between two kinds of fields — the real and the virtual, the remembered and the simulated. That duality is reflected in the softness of the piece. I leaned into abstraction more than I might have outdoors, allowing for mood, tone, and open space to take precedence over precision. The result is something quieter and more atmospheric" — Byron Hodgins

Byron Hodgins received a B.F.A from Nova Scotia School of Art and Design. Hodgins has exhibited across Canada and Korea; he lives and works in Ottawa.