{"id":38311,"date":"2026-06-11T15:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T19:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=38311"},"modified":"2026-06-11T15:56:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T19:56:21","slug":"j-r-newtons-artist-talk-provides-insights-into-his-gilded-gold-exhibition-at-micak-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/j-r-newtons-artist-talk-provides-insights-into-his-gilded-gold-exhibition-at-micak-gallery\/","title":{"rendered":"J.R. Newton\u2019s Artist Talk provides insights into his \u201cGilded Gold\u201d exhibition at Micak Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Surrounded by 12 of his latest Renaissance-Realist paintings, J.R. Newton engaged an enthusiastic gathering of more than 50 visual arts aficionados at the Micak Gallery on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newton\u2019s insights were offered in an Artist Talk\u2014supporting his \u201cGilded Gold\u201d exhibition that began on May 16 and concludes on June 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gallery owner Katie Micak introduced the Orangeville-born artist and praised Newton\u2019s \u201clovely paintings that have such unexpected results.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the timely and controversial items discussed by Newton was the use of Artificial Intelligence in the artistic process \u201cas an imaginative friend to bounce ideas off of. AI is a beast that\u2019s coming \u2013 and it\u2019s useful to make a proposal to a prospective client.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to embracing AI as a small part of his process, Newton spoke about some of the recurring elements in his paintings and noted that \u201cmany are based on moments with my wife Christina Ajdinovic who is my model and muse.  She\u2019s appeared in almost 1,000 of my paintings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two paintings featuring the stirring likeness of Ajdinovic were presented prominently in the \u201cGilded Gold\u201d exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudy of Passing Time\u201d and \u201cMourning Tide\u201d reveal Newton\u2019s potent fusion of Renaissance and Realist styles \u2013 the grandeur of Italian Leonardo Da Vinci\u2019s female subjects meeting the photographically-detailed presentation methods championed by Canadian Alex Colville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another recurrent stylistic device that Newton discussed is his use of \u201cthrow away areas\u201d similar to Caravaggio \u2013 reflecting the playfulness featured in his creative processes.  He also acknowledged that his connection to Renaissance style, which is married to Realism in most of the paintings in the Gilded Gold exhibition, runs deeper than simply deploying the look of the sixteenth-century legendary artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a workhorse\u2014I like the work ethic of Renaissance painters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Newton also admitted to feeling a connection to a famous twentieth century painter whose works are steeped in Americana:  \u201cI\u2019m a huge Norman Rockwell fan\u2014I love the way he composed pictures and I was moved by his narratives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newton described the challenges of being a painter\u2014the toll it takes physically \u201cpeering through a series of magnifying glasses\u201d and noted the restrictive quality of the medium in terms of how little time he has to make a first impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a painter, I have one second to catch your eye. Novelists have three hundred pages, singers have three minutes, directors have two hours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the \u201cGilded Gold\u201d exhibition featured many of Newton\u2019s traditional styles and subjects, the OCAD-trained painter spoke about \u201ctaking chances\u201d at this point in his career. He directed our attention to \u201cSoft Gravity\u201d which is a fusion of \u201cballroom dancers, the 1970s paintings featured in the sitcom Good Times, and I asked myself \u2018How do I make this Space Age?\u2019 I was painting for a different feel. I wanted to play country music, but I\u2019m not allowed, and the Classical side took over again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Micak reinforced the discussion about Newton\u2019s bold new painting and observed that \u201cSoft Gravity\u201d asks the question, \u201cWhat\u2019s it like to dance in space?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s such a focus on female figures from the Renaissance, but John has also just come back from seeing Degas at The Louvre and \u2018Soft Gravity\u2019 presents an Impressionist\u2019s presentation of dance as well as a popular television show\u2019s art.  There are so many connections to so many eras. Seeing the two converge\u2014his Realism and Renaissance and embracing new technologies \u2013 seems to activate his paintings in a new way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s evident that Newton is embarking on a new adventure as a painter based on the startling, engaging, and boldly-colored \u201cSoft Gravity\u201d and he acknowledged that there are periods in an artist\u2019s life that motivate creative changes and new approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStill life was my lifeline for years as an artist. As a result, I\u2019ll never eat apples and pears again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gallery erupted in laughter at Newton\u2019s self-deprecating and humorous insight\u2014sealing the deal on an evening well-spent with art lovers ranging from tweens to retirees at the Micak Gallery in Aurora.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surrounded by 12 of his latest Renaissance-Realist paintings, J.R. Newton engaged an enthusiastic gathering of more than 50 visual arts aficionados at the Micak Gallery on Thursday evening. Newton\u2019s insights were offered in an Artist Talk\u2014supporting his \u201cGilded Gold\u201d exhibition that began on May 16 and concludes on June 13. Gallery owner Katie Micak introduced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-11-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9XV","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-09 14:42:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38313,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38311\/revisions\/38313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}