Geoff Farnsworth (b. 1968, Kimberley, British Columbia)

Geoff Farnsworth is a Canadian painter recognized for expressive, semi-abstract figurative works that fuse classical training with colour-driven abstraction and intuitive experimentation. Working at the intersection of figuration and abstraction, Farnsworth creates psychologically charged paintings that balance structure and spontaneity, intention and accident. He is currently based in St. Catharines, Ontario, and exhibits widely across Canada, the United States, and Europe.

Farnsworth’s artistic foundation was formed on the West Coast, where he began his formal studies in Vancouver at the Federation of Canadian Artists, Emily Carr College of Art and Design, and Capilano College’s Graphic Design and Illustration program. These early years provided rigorous technical grounding in drawing, composition, and visual structure while fostering an openness to experimentation that would later define his mature practice.

In 1997, Farnsworth relocated to New York City to continue his studies at the Art Students League, initially focusing on realist figurative painting from the live model. Over time, he expanded into abstract studios that emphasized process, spatial tension, and colour relationships. He studied primarily with Frank O’Cain and William Scharf, whose teachings introduced him to push–pull spatial theories and the philosophical underpinnings of New York Abstract Expressionism—ideas closely associated with Mark Rothko and his contemporaries. This period solidified Farnsworth’s interest in merging figurative imagery with abstract strategies, using the figure as a flexible armature for emotion, memory, and narrative.

After roughly five years in New York, Farnsworth returned to Canada, settling first in Toronto and later in Thunder Bay and Niagara Falls before establishing his studio in downtown St. Catharines in 2013. He was represented by the John Mann Gallery in St. Catharines until the gallery’s closure in 2024, with a major exhibition of his work running from 2020 to 2024. This period marked a significant chapter in his career, highlighting large-scale, politically and personally resonant paintings.

Farnsworth’s work has been exhibited internationally, with presentations in New York City, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Niagara Falls, Norway, Sweden, and Trinidad. His practice centers on the relationship between figuration and abstraction, often blending abstract expressionism with figurative surrealism. Recurring motifs, such as family members, anchor compositions that function simultaneously as expressive arrangements of shape, colour, and energy, and as compelling figurative scenes.

His process negotiates plan and accident, balancing a “meditative figural base” with unconscious probing and stylistic innovation. Recent works engage political and social themes, responding to border tensions, online polarization, and regional cultural issues. Farnsworth continues to exhibit in commercial, institutional, and academic venues, including a 2023 exhibition at Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, focusing on small-format works.

Farnsworth’s work is represented by Canadian galleries and dealers who position him as a painter of expressive, psychologically nuanced figurative abstraction. His paintings occupy an established yet accessible primary-market position, with mid-sized oil-on-panel works available through galleries such as Canvas Gallery in Toronto. While his market presence remains largely gallery-driven rather than auction-led, his consistent exhibition record and sustained studio practice underscore a career grounded in artistic inquiry rather than trend.

Through a practice that merges classical discipline with abstraction, intuition, and contemporary relevance, Geoff Farnsworth continues to develop a body of work that invites sustained looking—paintings that resist fixed interpretation and instead reward emotional and perceptual engagement.