Michael Flisak, a long-time Jasper resident, flatly states, 鈥淚 have always been an artist.鈥� He recalls the beginnings of his artistic journey as a three-year-old, sitting on his grandfather鈥檚 lap, fascinated as his grandfather made drawings of elephants and local Mohawk leader Chief Joseph Brant magically appeared on the paper. At the age of eight, Flisak created his first oil painting and remembers mixing the reds for the boy鈥檚 hair and blues for his shirt. Colours fascinated him then as they continue to do today.
In the late 鈥�70s, he enrolled at the Victoria College of Art to hone his skills and took to drawing and studying human anatomy. There he was introduced to the world of abstract art and became fascinated with the artistic freedom he could express with this approach and how it allowed him to explore the relationship between colour and form. While at college, he became a teacher offering night classes in drawing and painting. He later enrolled at the Universit茅 Laval to study Fine Art. Years later, he undertook a residency at the Banff Center for the Arts further exploring his passion for creating abstract impressions and ideas in paint.
Flisak said, 鈥淚 am an artist fascinated by dislocation.鈥� What that means is expressing or presenting an object in a different way or location. What that means to this writer, as an observer of his art, is that he takes an abandoned object and presents it in a new perspective or location. He may take a human image and distort it through time and space (similar to an image trapped by a transporter in the 鈥淪tar Trek鈥� series) or perhaps objects dropped in random order, then viewed through image distorting glass blocks. These become subjects of his art.
Michael鈥檚 evocative art is on display as an element of the Jasper Art Gallery鈥檚 Abstract Exhibition running now through Nov. 7. He also presents his artistic vision and creations through wearable art and can frequently be seen at local farmers markets.
It should be noted that Flisak was one of the founding members of the Jasper Artists Guild some 22 years ago. His contributions to growing and sustaining the guild as well as contributing to the Jasper arts and culture scene have been quite remarkable.
Michael Flisak can be reached though his website at
Submitted by the Jasper Artists Guild
