b. 1959
Janet Werner received her BFA Maryland Institute, Baltimore MD 1985, and MFA Yale University, New Haven CT 1987. Spanning over 15 years as an established painter, Werner has shown widely and often across Canada including shows at the Liane & Danny Taran Gallery, Montreal, Dunlop Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, The Ottawa Art Gallery, Plug In Contemporary Art, Winnipeg, as well as in Europe at the Prague Biennale, and Cologne, Germany. The Canada Council has supported her work in both research and for the NY studio.

Janet Werner’s subject matter is romantic and at times painfully sweet—gorgeously painted surfaces are sometimes covered with cute animals, snowglobes, figurines and beautiful young women bridging the realm of cutesy kitsch and still life. There is however a disjunction, a sense of alienation and psychological remove, between the iconic figures and the constructed landscapes they inhabit. As in the earlier portraits, the underlying subject of the work remains an experience of isolation, the paintings embody not only ideals of innocence and beauty but also the loss or failure of those ideals.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2010
As yet untitled, Julia Garnatz, Cologne, Germany
Who’s Sorry Now? Parisian Laundry, Montreal

2009
Is Anything Alright? Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, ON

2008
Too much happiness, Parisian Laundry, Montréal
New Work, Birch Libralato, Toronto

2007
Buttercup I love you, Galerie Julia Garnatz, Cologne, Germany

2006
Up here in heaven, Birch Libralato Gallery, Toronto, ON
Misfits, Galerie Joyce Yahouda, Montréal, QC

2005
Janet Werner, Liane & Danny Taran Gallery, Saidye Bronfman Centre, Montréal, QC

2004
Janet Werner, Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, ON
Janet Werner, Tracey Lawrence Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.

2002
Since first I cast eyes on you/ Depuis mon premier regard sur toi,
Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON
Janet Werner, Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, ON
Since first I cast eyes on you, Tracy Lawrence Gallery, Vancouver, B. C.

2001
Janet Werner: New Work, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary, AB
Janet Werner, The Gallery Art Placement, Saskatoon, SK

2000
Beautiful Losers (with Michael Fernandes), Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, SK
New Work, Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, ON
Trust, Thames Art Gallery, Chatham, ON
Trust, Estevan National Exhibition Center, Estevan, SK

1999
Trust, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
Portraits, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON
Trance (with Patrick Traer), Plug In Contemporary Art, Winnipeg, MB
Trust, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, ON
New Paintings, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary, AB
Portraits, Tableau Vivant, Toronto, ON

1998
Trust, Optica, Montréal, QC
Lucky, Owens Art Gallery, Sackville, N.B
.
1997
Lucky, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, AB
Trance, The Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, SK
Listen (with Beaty Popescu), AKA Gallery, Saskatoon, SK

1996
Slow Pictures, Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, ON

1995
Janet Werner/Kathleen Sellars* Eye Level Gallery, Halifax, N.S.
Figures and Fields, Sir Wilfred Grenfell Gallery, Corner Brook, NF
Scat, Galerie Axe NEO 7, Hull, QC

1994
Lingua, La Centrale, Galerie Powerhouse, Montreal, QC

1992
Reflections on Language and the Appearance of Things,
Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan

1991
Reflections on Language and the Appearance of Things,
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, SK
Reflections on Language and the Appearance of Things,
Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary, AB

1990
Paintings, Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto, ON

1989
Rehearsing the World, Plug In Contemporary Art, Winnipeg, MB

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2008
Intrus/Intruders, curated by Melanie Boucher, Musée du Québec, Québec
Generation, curated by Catherine Crowston, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
Entre/Voir, curated by Louise Déry, UQAM, Montréal, QC

2007
Some Girls, curated by James Campbell, McClure Gallery, Montréal, QC

2007
Framed: The art of the portrait, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, ON

2006
Peindre, Centre d’Exposition de Baie Sainte Paul, Baie Sainte Paul, QC

2005
Individuation, Galerie Esthésio, Québec City, QC

2004
Sweet and Sour, Tracey Lawrence Gallery, Vancouver , B.C.

2003
Prague Bienale, “ Lazarus Effect, “ Prague, Czech Republic
Dog Days, Tracey Lawrence Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
Toronto International Art Fair, "Fresh Avante Garde," Toronto, ON
Woman, James Baird Gallery, St. John's, N.B.

2002
Posers, curated by Mathew Reichertz, St. Mary's University Art Gallery, Halifax, N.S.
Beautiful Stranger, curated by Mitch Robertson, The Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand
(with Micah Lexier and Kelly Mark)
Portraits - Robots, curated by Eric Simon, Galerie Graff, Montréal, QC

2001
Defining the Portrait, curated by Sandra Paikowsky, Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montréal, Qc

2000
Tableau Vivant Gallery, curated by Wren Jackson, Toronto, ON
Small Craft Warning, curated by Francois Dion, Gallery 101, Ottawa, ON

1999
Les Peintures, Galerie René Blouin/Galerie Lilian Rodriguez, Montréal, Qc
Ten Years Later, Contemporary Art from the Collection of the Mendel Art Gallery,
Swift Current National Exhibition Center, Swift Current, SK

1998
Ten Years Later, Contemporary Art from the Collection of the Mendel Art Gallery, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, SK
Mixed Messages, Kenderdine Gallery, Saskatoon, SK

1993
Anima Materia, Kenderdine Gallery, Saskatoon,Saskatchewan
The Heliotropic, I, curated by Jennifer McMackon, Mercer Union, Toronto, Ontario

1992
Propositions/Painting, curated by Lucy Hogg, Charles Scott Gallery,Vancouver, B.C.

1991
Remembering and Telling: Reflections on Identity and Location, curated by Lynn Bell, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Sasktchewan

1990
Memory and Subjectivity , curated by Janice Andrae, Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto
Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, ON
Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, ON
Laurentian University Museum and Art Centre, Sudbury, ON