DAVID CANTINE, Oct 23-Nov 9, Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton

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"From SW Still Life B"

David Cantine, "From SW Still Life B," 2001, acrylic on Plexiglas, 26" x 26".

DAVID CANTINE

ALBERTA: Oct 23-Nov 9, Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton

By Lee Bale

In modernist art history’s search for the liberation of colour, beginning with Cézanne, David Cantine’s four coloured discs represent a triumph. What most fail to grasp is a master draughtsman beneath a necessarily reductive format. To liberate colour he has refined drawing and composition to its essence. It is a significant tribute to Alberta’s northness and isolation that this Michiganian, American artist has chosen Edmonton as his home and the crucible in which to perfect his vision in relative obscurity. Cantine has been painting virtually the same still life here for 30 years. The format developed from a picture of two apples and their shadows and has been refined so that colour functions in a purely structural way. In a fast paced, quick fix world, he pursues a single-minded vision. It is a rare pleasure to stand before one of these eloquent canvases and allow the colour to wash over you; to begin to vibrate, shimmy and dance.

Represented by: Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton, AB.