Kaarsemaker would like to acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Quebec, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council.
David Kaarsemaker holds a BFA from Concordia University and an MFA from the University of Ottawa.
He was a finalist in the 2025 Salt Spring National Arts Prize and the 2017 RBC Painting Competition and his work is included in the collections of Global Affairs Canada, the City of Ottawa, the City of St John’s, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, and the Newfoundland Provincial Art Bank.
David’s paintings over the past few years come from ideas and images that arise from the quiet mental states achieved after several days of walking alone on long backpacking trips.
His paintings consider his relationship to the myth of “wilderness”, both his sense of reverence in relation to nature as well as his participation in its commodification and exploitation. The constants in his paintings are a love of light and the play of spatial illusion.
