An expatriate Briton he lived near Vancouver, British Columbia, until his death in November 2008. John Meeks returned to painting after a hiatus of more than two decades, having abandoned an early formal art training to pursue a career in Civil Engineering and Construction. The lure of the easel did, however, prevail and he embarked upon the task of creating a meaningful portfolio of work. His efforts are now being rewarded with increasing interest from publishers, collectors and galleries, and this essentially self-tought artist now has canvasses in collections in Canada, the U.K. and the United States.
He has also been fortunate to have had works selected for several juried shows including the annual EAA Sport Aviation Art Exhibition in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and the Annual International Exhibition held in 1999 by The American Society of Aviation Artists at Warner Robins, Georgia. John was accepted by the ASAA in the same year, as a Foreign Affiliate Artist Member. He has also become an active member of the Canadian Association of Aviation Artists.
Always looking for "different" subjects, he was increasingly trying to depict overlooked aspects of the genre, occasionally injecting unabashed humour into his work, concentrating more and more on human content and examining those periods of history that are so frequently ignored by fellow artists and public alike; he was particularly interested, for instance, in the role of The Spanish Civil War in World History and the part that aviation played in that conflict.
Whilst his main energies were directed to promoting his original works, he also has a program of limited and open edition prints of some of his more popular works (Commencing, curiously with his submarine studies - by popular demand !). Working almost exclusively in oils, aviation was his main source of subject material - fast being supplemented by his submarine studies, but he also occasionally produced work with automobile, railroad and other themes.
He also has strong representation on the internet for his submarine paintings see links below.
The artist: http://subart.net/artists.htm His work: http://subart.net/canada.htm