Mike Fantuz is a Canadian artist whose oil paintings reconstruct environments drawing on memory and perspective to reveal the interconnected nature of space and human presence. Through thick, textured applications of paint, he explores the tension between order and impermanence. His compositions evoke a sense of stillness or distance, inviting a visual meditation on the systems we build and inhabit.

Fantuz has exhibited across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, including solo exhibitions at Christina Parker Gallery and exhibitions at Revelstoke Public Art Gallery and the Affordable Art Fair Battersea (London, UK). His paintings are held in numerous public and corporate collections, including The Rooms Provincial Art Bank, Fortis (NL & BC), Marco Group, the Delta Hotel St. John’s, and private collections worldwide. Fantuz has received multiple awards, including support from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Represented by the Christina Parker Gallery, St. John's, Newfoundland. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

My paintings are an exploration of how place, memory, and perspective intertwine. Drawing from my experiences as a pilot and air traffic controller, I approach the canvas with an aerial viewpoint, acknowledging the intricacies of urban and natural landscapes. Using oil paint and palette knives, tools passed down from my grandfather, I construct images that invite viewers to consider the world from unexpected perspectives. Growing up in Calgary, living for a decade in Newfoundland, and now living in Vancouver, I have been shaped by places that each hold their own rhythm, architecture, and atmosphere. While rooted in real locations, these works are never just about what’s seen, they are about what’s felt and remembered. In these spaces, personal and collective histories blur.

At their core, my paintings are a response to change, how we leave places, return to them, and carry them forward. The contemplative act of painting becomes a way to process experience, to find meaning in complexity, and to create something enduring from the often-fragmented paths we travel.