David Cantine’s highly recognizable compositions of coloured circles below Plexiglas have been the painter’s primary pursuit for 45 years of his impressive painting career spanning almost six decades. What originally began as a still-life of apples and their shadows evolved into the present abstract imagery of four circles and seven colours. Motivated by the use of “structural colour instead of descriptive colour,” David Cantine continues to explore variations on this minimalist theme. Since the early 2000s, he has also explored a more painterly form of colourful abstracted still-life, with echoes of inspiration from Giorgio Morandi.
Born in Jackson, Michigan, Cantine received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Iowa before permanently relocating to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He taught Drawing at the University of Alberta for over thirty years and has been featured multiple times at the Art Gallery of Alberta, in the Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art, and most recently in Soak, Stripe, Splatter.
His work has been exhibited in 24 solo exhibitions and 37 group shows and can also be found in the following collections: Masur Museum, Louisiana; Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Ontario; Art Gallery of Alberta; University of Alberta FAB Gallery; Simons; Alberta Art Foundation; Hewlett-Packard; The Sims Group; True North; Francis Winspear Centre for Music, Alberta.