Jeff Bartels was born on April 11, 1973 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He grew up in the Toronto area where he showed an interest and talent for art at an early age. Throughout his schooling he focused his attention on art and in 1992 he continued those studies at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. Painting and sculpture continue to be Jeff’s main artistic focus and he has spent years working on his craft. Most of his paintings are done with oil on canvas that have recently taken on a photo-realistic style. By using dramatic lighting, exciting expressions and tight cropping, he is trying to bring emotion and passion to what can sometimes be seen as a cold style. The look of hyper-realism with the emotional impact of expressionism is what he is seeking.

His current series of paintings are a look at the human condition shown through hands. The first piece in this series is a huge work that will consist of 12 canvases and will be 12’ tall and 9’ wide. This piece will show the passion of creativity with each of the 12 canvases focusing on Jeff’s hands playing different musical instruments. When completed, the entire series will look at many different aspects of our humanity by focusing on our hands.