Born 1975, Saint John, NB
EDUCATION
1993-97 Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC - Four-year studio program
1996 Cardiff Institute of Art and Design, Cardiff, Wales, UK
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2027 Recent Etchings, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto (forthcoming)
2026 Sunchoke, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2025 Drawings 1996-2023, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2023 Pitch Assembling, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2022 Log Pile Variations, James Fuentes Online, New York
2022 Neutralizer Suite, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2021 Mural Studies, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2019 Midnight Repairs, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2019 Jay Isaac: Twenty Years, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2017 High Gloss Ceilings, Cooper Cole, Toronto
2016 Pwycobo, Weird Things, Toronto
2016 Thoughts on the Rocks, Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver
2014 The Sponges, Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver
2012 Second Eye, Monte Clark Gallery, Toronto
2010 Antique Sky, LES Gallery, Vancouver
2010 There is a Giant, Underground Mushroom Living in Oregon , Silver Flag Projects, Montreal
2010 The Zone of No Ideas, Paul Petro Contemporary Art
2009 Flower Paintings, CSA Space, Vancouver
2008 The Energy of The Sun, Paul Petro Contemporary Art
2007 The Beauty of Things, In This World, Now and Always, Paul Petro Contemporary Art
2007 Road Trip Paintings, othergallery, Winnipeg
2005 CUE Foundation, New York (catalogue)
2004 Maritime Frazetta, Greener Pastures Contemporary Art, Toronto
2004 Elemental Brooker, Xeno Gallery, Vancouver (Collaborative show with Robin Fry)
2003 New Age Philosophy , Acuna-Hansen Gallery Project Space, Los Angeles
2002 The Matlock Juxtapoze, Mercer Union, Toronto
2002 Misty Horizon, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2001 Hinterland, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2001 Watering Hole, Solo Exhibition Space, Toronto
2000 Pleasurenaut, Bus Gallery, Toronto
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Recent Aquisitions: Abstraction, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, ON
2026 New Acquisitions Tour (collectionArtNB), various galleries, New Brunswick
2025 Art School Confidential, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, NB
2024 Watershed, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2024 Colour Therapy, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg
2023 Flavoured Soup, 560 Gallery, Vancouver
2023 Editions Part One, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2021 Some Versions of Landscape, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2020 Born to be Alive, Season Gallery, Seattle, WA
2019 Stoneroses, Brücke Museum, Berlin, curated by Mirak Jamal
2019 Gabrovo Biennial of Humour and Satire, Museum of Humour and Satire, Gabrovo, Bulgaria
2019 Heads, McIntosh Gallery, Western University, London, ON, curated by Sky Glabush
2019 Skill Tree, Honey Ramka, Brooklyn, New York
2018 Peanuts Gallery, Vancouver, Three person exhibition with Shaye Saint John and Shannon Lucy
2018 Harper's Books at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Los Angeles
2017 Sweat Loaf Hallelujah, soon.tw, Montreal
2017 Futurisms, McIntosh Gallery, Western University, London, ON, curated by Adam Lauder (cat.)
2017 Untitled 2011, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2016 GIFC, David Risley Gallery, Copenhagen; Happy Ending, New York; Steinsland Berliner, Stockholm; Agnes B's Galeri du Jour, Paris
2016 Unprecious Work, Laundry Room, Toronto
2015 Shit, I'm an Artists Artist, Galleri Benoni, Denmark, Curated by Brad Phillips
2015 Taste this Sad Cream, Patrick Mikhail Gallery, Montreal
2015 Hotter Than July 24th, Cooper Cole, Toronto 2015
2015 Broken Colours, Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Curated by Ben Portis
2014 Hothouse, BlackRock/WhiteRock, Harlem, New York
2014 Off the Grid,Abstract Painting in New Brunswick, Beaverbrook Gallery, Frederiction
2014 A Drawback, Quartair, The Hague, Netherland
2012 20 Years, Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver
2011 Hunter and Cook Presents, Night Gallery, Los Angeles
2011 Family Shirt, Gallerie Krets, Malmo Sweden, Curated by Matt Feyld
2011 In and Out of Space, Stewart Hall, Point-Claire, Quebec
2011 Hunter and Cook Projects, Khyber ICA, Halifax
2011 93 til Infinity, Katharine Mulherin, Toronto
2010 Triumphant Carrot: The Persistence of Still-Life, Contemporary Art Gallery,Vancouver (cat.)
2010 The International Chilliwack Biennial, Chilliwack, BC, Curated by Aaron Carpenter
2010 Collection of the Artist, CSA Space, Vancouver, Curated by Brad Phillips
2009 Massive Uprising, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Curated by Ben Portis
2009 Art on Paper Biennial, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina
2009 Das ist einfach schwierig, Kunst in Kreuzberg, Berlin
2007 See You Tommorrow, Agnes Etherington Art Center, Kingston
2006 Art vs Real Life, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York
2006 Natural Selection, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2006 Darkness Ascends, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto
2004 The Cave and the Island, White Columns, New York, Curated by Xandra Eden
2004 The Cave and the Island, Galerie Kunstbeuro, Vienna
2004 Republic of Love, Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto
2002 Selling Out and Buying In, Biz Art, Shanghai (catalogue)
2002 Synthetic Psychosis, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto (catalogue)
2002 Officina America, Galleria d'art moderna di Bologna, Italy(catalogue)
2001 Breakfast of Champeens, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
2001 Instant Coffee Miniature Show, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
2000 Pretty, Please, Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto, Curated by Ingrid Chu
2000 Emerging Artists, Gallery One, Toronto
AWARDS
2026 New Brunswick Arts Board Career Development Grant
2026 New Brunswick Arts Board Career Development Grant
2026 New Brunswick Arts Board Creation Grant
2025 New Brunswick Arts Board Documentation Grant
2025 New Brunswick Arts Board Career Development Grant
2025 New Brunswick Arts Board Creation Grant, Category A
2024 New Brunswick Arts Board Career Development Grant
2024 New Brunswick Arts Board Creation Grant, Category A
2023 New Brunswick Arts Board Creation Grant, Category A
2022 Canada Council Research and Creation Grant
2022 Canada Council Concept to Realization Grant
2021 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
2021 Ontario Arts Council Project Grant
2021 Canada Council Research and Creation Grant
2020 Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance Grant
2020 Chalmers Arts Fellowship
2018 Canada Council Research and Creation Grant
2018 Ontario Arts Council Project Grant
2017 Canada Council Research and Creation Grant
2015 Ontario Arts Council Project Grant
2014 Canada Council Project Grant
2013 Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance Grant
2010 Toronto Arts Council Level Two Creation Grant
2007 New Brunswick Arts Council Project Grant
2005 Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance Grant
2003 Canada Council Travel Grant
2003 Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance Grant
2003 Ontario Arts Council Creation Grant
2003 Toronto Arts Council Creation Grant
2002 Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance Grant
2000 Ontario Arts Council Creation Grant
2000 Toronto Arts Council Level One Creation Grant
1998 Canada Council Emerging Artist Grant
1998 Canada Council Travel Grant
1997 PADAC Art Award
PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
New Brunswick Art Bank (collectionArtNB), Fredericton, NB
Owens Art Gallery, Sackville, NB
Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto, ON
Ivey School of Business, London, ON
Museum London, London, ON
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, NB
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, MB
Agnes Etherington Art Center, Kingston, ON
Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB
MacDonald Stewart Art Center, Guelph, ON
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, Toronto, ON
Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, ON
Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery, Owen Sound, ON
ART FAIRS
2026 Art Toronto, (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2026 Halifax Art Book Fair, Halifax, NS
2026 Plural, Montreal (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2025 Art Toronto (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2025 Plural, Montreal (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2024 Art Toronto (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2023 Art Toronto (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2023 Plural, Montreal, (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2022 Art Toronto, (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2020 Papier, Montreal (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2019 Art Toronto (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2019 Papier, Montreal (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2018 Art Toronto (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2017 Art Toronto (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2017 Papier, Montreal (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2012 Art Toronto, (Monte Clark Gallery)
2011 NADA, Miami (Night Gallery)
2010 NADA, Miami (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2010 Toronto International Art Fair (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2009 Toronto International Art Fair (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2008 Toronto International Art Fair (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2007 Toronto International Art Fair (Paul Petro Contemporary Art)
2006 Aqua Art Fair, Miami (othergallery)
2006 Toronto International Art Fair (othergallery)
2006 Art(212), New York (Katherine Mulherin Projects)
2006 Scope, London (Katherine Mulherin Projects)
2005 Toronto Alternative Art Fair International (Solo Exhibition)
2005 FIAC, Paris (Artcore Gallery)
2004 Toronto International Art Fair (Greener Pastures Contemporary Art)
RESIDENCIES
2026 Sunbury Shores Arts & Nature Centre, St. Andrews, NB
2005 CUE Foundation, New York
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Balzer, David, “It’s All About the Love”, Eye, Toronto, p. 39, March 25, 2004
Birch, Jesse, “Jay Isaac at LES Gallery”, Colour Magazine, 8.5, November, 2010
Barilli, Renato (curator), Officina America, Museum of Modern Art, Bologna, 2002 (catalogue)
CBC Radio 3, “Chanelling Brooker”, cbcradio3.com, 14-21 March 2004
Dault, Gary Michael, “Jay Isaac” Globe & Mail, p. R15, 6 April 2002
Dault, Gary Michael, “Natural Selection at Paul Petro”, Globe & Mail, Oct. 7, 2006
Dault, Gary Michael, “Jay Isaac at Paul Petro”, Globe and Mail, Sept 29th, 2007
Demkiw, Janis, “Jay Isaac, Maritime Frazetta”, C Magazine, p.47, Issue 82, 2004
Dick, Terence, “Jay Isaac at Paul Petro”, Akimblog, March 4th , 2010
De Vito, Natalie, “Selling Out and Buying In”, Biz Art, Shanghai, November 2002 (catalogue)
Eden, Xandra, “Pleasurenaut at Bus Gallery” Lola #7, p. 30, August 2000
Eden, Xandra, (curator,) “Republic of Love”, Power Plant, Toronto, 2004 (catalogue)
Eden, Xandra, (curator), Cue Foundation Catalogue, 2005
Garnet, Carla, “Synthetic Psychosis”, Canadian Art Magazine, Fall 2002, p. 136
Glabush, Sky, “Jay Isaac at Paul Petro”, Border Crossings, Spring Issue, 2009
Hanna, Deirdre, “Rococo Romp” Now, p.81, 22 March 2001
Heather, Rosemary, “Misty Horizon at Paul Petro” Tema Celeste, vol. #91, May-June 2002
Heather, Rosemary, “The Matlock Juxtapoze” Mercer Union, Toronto, October 2002 (catalogue)
Hirschmann, Thomas, “Pulp Fantasies” Now, 28 March 2002
Lauder, Adam, “Think Tanked”, Canadianart.ca, April 22, 2010
Lauder, Adam, “The Old New Abstraction”. Canadian Art, Summer Issue, 2013
Lauder, Adam, “Pitch Assembling”, exhibition text, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, 2023
Lauder, Adam, “Jay Isaac: Gestures of Reinvention”, feature, Border Crossings Magazine, 2025
McKay, Gillian, “Pleasurenaut at Bus Gallery” Globe & Mail, p. R13, 10 June 2000
Miller, Earl, “Jay Isaac”, Border Crossings Magazine, page 91, Issue 146, 2018
Miller, Earl, “Atlantic Canada at Art Toronto, Billie Magazine, December 7, 2021
Miller, Earl, “Pitch Assembling”, Billie Magazine, October 30, 2023
Miller, Earl, “An Invitation into the Archive with Jay Isaac’s “Drawings: 1996–2023”, Billie Magazine, May 18, 2025
Osborne, Catherine, “Maritime Frazetta at Greener Pastures”, National Post, March 7, 2004
Phillips, Brad, “Jolie Laide (Back)”, Artslant, May, 2014
Portis, Ben, “Jay Isaac”, Border Crossings Magazine, Issue #125, Winter, 2013
Rhodes, Richard, “Jay Isaac Paints Through Problems”, Canadian Art online March 14th, 2015
Sworn, Corinne, “Republic of Love”, Canadian Art, Summer , 2004
Temple, Kevin, “Art vs Real Life; Canadian Stories”, TorontoStar, p.C7, August 27th, 2006
Time Out Toronto, “Space Oddities”, p.185
Vaughan, R.M., “Isaac's Fantastic Journey”, Eye Toronto, 28 March 2002
Vaughan, R. M., “All the Pretty Young Things”, Globe & Mail, p. V4, 11 May 2002
PUBLICATIONS
Hart House Review, 2020
Free Spirit News, Issue 13, 2020
Alive II, 2019
Futurisms, McIntosh Gallery, 2018
Off the Grid, Abstract Painting in New Brunswick, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, 2014
60 Painters, 2012
Triumphant Carrot: The Persistence of Still Life, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, 2010
Carte Blanche, Vol.2: Painting, Magenta Foundation. 2008
Jay Isaac, CUE Foundation, NY, 2005
Officina America, Museum of Modern Art, Bologna, Italy, 2002
Selling out and Buying in, BizArt, Shanghai, China, 2002
TEACHING AND LECTURING
2026 Etching Basics, Saint John Arts Centre, Saint John, NB
2026 Artist lecture, Sheridan College, Oakville, ON
2025 Visiting artist, NSCAD University, Halifax, NS
2024 The Abstracted Landscape, 4-day course at Sunbury Shores Arts & Nature Centre, St. Andrews, NB
2024 Artist lecture for Adam Lauder’s course: Canadian Art: The Modern Era. OCAD University, Toronto, ON
PUBLISHING
2026 2026/2027 Artist Fee Schedule, tri-fold pamphlet, b/w
2026 SJPM2.5, 36 pages, saddle stitched, b/w
2026 Glyphosate, 128 pages, soft-cover, perfect bound, b/w
2025 Change My Mind, 34 pages, soft-cover, saddle stitched, b/w
2024 Preliminary Studies, 38 pages, soft-cover, saddle stitched, b/w
2019 Midnight Repairs, 24 pages, soft-cover, saddle stitched, b/w with colour cover
2014 Fantasy Art Now, edited and compiled with Sebastian Frye. 38 pages, soft-cover, perfect bound, b/w
2009-2011 Hunter and Cook magazine. 10 Issues, 80-120 pages, soft-cover, perfect bound, full colour
CURATORIAL
2025 13 Cedars, co-director of rural project space located in Rowley, NB
2022-present @newbrunswickartistarchive, curated Instagram feed featuring artists who are from, live in, or are associated with New Brunswick, Canada
2018-2023 Peter Estey Fine Art & Auctions, co-director of artist-run auction house and dealer focusing on folk, outsider, and marginalized Canadian artists. Curated online exhibitions including solo presentations of work by bill bissett and Catharine McAvity, as well as themed group exhibitions
2020 C Magazine Contemporary Art Auction, consultant and advisor
2018 Contemporary Art Auction, Cowley Abbott, curator and consultant for the Toronto-based auction house’s first contemporary art auction
2017 Sweat Loaf Hallelujah, curator of a four-person exhibition at Soon.tw gallery, Montreal
2014-2016 @nationalgalleryofcanada, curated Instagram account featuring artists from Canada
2009-2011 Hunter and Cook Gallery, Toronto, co-curator of project space dedicated to exhibiting artists associated with Hunter and Cook magazine