Derek Hodgson’s, who posed as our “adventure capitalist” (the man who capitalizes on autumn opportunities for adventure) on page 22 of the October issue, doesn’t just look dashing in canoe — he’s also an accomplished visual artist. The following is taken from Mr. Hodson’s biography at magic-pony.com.

Derrick Hodgson is a Toronto-based artist who’s paintings and drawings are renderings of complex social spaces crowded with familiar and mutated characters. Hodgson grew up on a farm and subsequently moved to Toronto. This progression from nature to urban provided the breeding grounds for the first seeds of mania. Using aspects of cartoon, graffiti and contemporary design, Hodgson created a style and environment that quickly advanced him to the forefront of contemporary art and character design. In the past few years Hodgson has exhibited his work in Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Milan and Melbourne. In addition to this he was the first Canadian artist to be recognized by Sony Creative in Japan where his character illustrations were transformed into 3-D art figures and sold in gatcha-gatcha machines across Japan. This quick rise to success led Hodgson to be a key speaker at the Berlin Pictoplasma conference in 2004 and 2006.

If you want to see a collection of his work stop by the Magic Pony gallery in Toronto, or hit www.madreal.com.