As a Founding Trustee of the Bermuda National Gallery, John Gardner was responsible for securing City Hall as a location for BNG and designed the original architectural and interior work on the gallery. A founding partner of the architectural firm Cooper Gardner, he also taught Advanced Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. His mixed media artwork focuses on drawing, painting and conceptual installations.
He says: “Three hand drawn images are to be read as a singular artwork; sharing the same vocabulary and method while celebrating significant facility moments in the history of the Bermuda National Gallery.
“Different technical drawings, germane to each point in time, are the framework for an overlay of hand sketches. An abstract resolution arises from the act of transforming these drawings from their original purpose and presentation. The final works present scale shifts, pattern, texture, symbols and gestures that respond to a recollection of thoughts associated with each time and place: existing negative conditions with great potential and energy.”