"In the Rainforest", (detail), acrylic on canvas, 82"x104", 1993
ARTIST STATEMENT
The natural world has always been my wellspring of inspiration. Memories of exploring the forests of my youth can still flood my senses with the sounds and smells of those wild places on the edge of suburbia. Like others raised in this environment, however, traveling down the intersecting avenues and returning to the comfort of my home every night, the wild remained very much “other worldly”. It was a longing to find a deeper connection with the natural world that later took me, through job experiences and personal trips, to many remote areas of B.C. and 
n the path to finding my voice as an artist.
My restless spirit never allows me to linger in one artistic space too long but urges me onward to explore new ground. Although not necessarily in sequence, several series of paintings appear, in time forming a continuum of shared intent. This is the path my work has always taken. I can recall the words of one of my art school professors upon viewing a collection of my student work,” It looks like ten different people did these”. For a time I wondered whether my hybrid nature and unwillingness to stick to a “signature style” was a weakness. Over time however, I’ve come to accept it as my true nature and today regard it as
one of my biggest strengths.
"Ridgewalkert",acrylic on canvas, 16"x20", 1998
My recent paintings continue my multi-directional explorations in the areas of landscape, the plant and animal worlds and environmental issues. Through both figuration and semi-abstraction my acrylic on canvas and panel paintings attempt to convey both my deep affinity for the natural world and my take on the current state of the human condition.
One of my currently evolving series titled “The Undiscovered Plant” employs the use of various painting techniques including collage to create a mysterious world inhabited by unidentified organic life. These paintings speak of the abundance and frailty of nature, the promise of discovery and the cost of destruction and loss. Open ended and multi-interpretational they are at once hopeful and yet somehow despairing, perhaps a fitting commentary on our complicated age.
One of the most frequently reoccuring themes in my landscape painting has been water. Always a difficult subject, waters illusive qualities constantly challenge my abilities as an a
rtist. One of my latest paintings "Beneath the Falls" was inspired by Tsusiat falls on the West Coast Trail. My favourite way to portray water is to position the viewer directly over the flow as if they are on a bridge or hovering above it. The water appears then to flow right through the viewer, engaging them head on and enhancing the notion of water as a powerful metaphor for life itself.
Gary Haggquist 2008
"Beneath the Falls", acrylic on canvas, tryptych, 24"x 72" overall, 2008