davidcationpaintings

New Paintings - 2006

2006-05-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

This new Skull Paintings unites my study of anatomy and the Word Paintings. Included in the painting is my name, represented by the symbols of the ancient language Queyanan.
This language, devloped by the Lord of the Rings authour J.R.R. Tolkien, theoretically was used in Europe prior to the development of Latin. This in one in a series ongoing including vanitas themes and the word painting.
Work from the series will be exhibited at several galleries in Ontario and in Europe of the next several months.
lastminute_cation@yahoo.ca
www.lapetitemortgallery.com 306 Cumberland Street near Clarence in Ottawa (Byward Market).
Telephone 613-860-1555

www.artengine.ca/cation

Ottawa Oct. 2006

2006-12-11T13:15:00.000-08:00

Panic in Detroit !!! paintings by David Cation

october 20 2006 7-10pm

An Evening with David Cation & Friends

La Petite Mort Gallery . Ottawa Canada David Cation - Untitled

60 " x 72" acrylic on canvas 2005-06

David Cation's new paintings are inspired by or include quotations from stories Catcher in The Rye (Salinger) and Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. They are large colourful paintings of which include painted words, human shadows and shooting range targets. They elude to David's mysterious and checkered past - references to hospital wards, prisons, handguns and drugs are interwoven with written appeals of a spiritual nature. Directions for praying, butterflies and angels. Painted in his large format attack style canvas's these new works are deeply personal and many different messages are written into each work.
My 14 year old son Brooks Cation will provide musical accompianment throughout the evening which also features readings of poetry from rob mclennan new work from his book aubade (Broken Jaw Press). Nichole McGillwill take the stage in the evening to read exerpt's from her 13 Cautionary Tales along with other poetry and prose, others TBA.There will be paintings and prints for sale by David Cation, and books by rob mclennan including aubade which feature's Cations work on the cover and books by Nichole McGill will also be for sale. People will have a chance to watch "Deprecation", a documentary filmed during Cation's residence and exhibitions in Belfast in 2002, (Northern Visions TV, Northern Ireland). The film is written and directed by Belfast artist Aaron Dickson.
www.artengine.ca/cation

Juxtapose - Ottawa Art Gallery

2005-09-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

This work was donated to the OAG fundraiseing exhibit Juxtapose. The gallery produced an impressive exhibition featuring dozens of regioal artists.
As usual most work was let go for a third the market value.

Selected Exhibitions
2005 Smiles - Royal Castle, Warsaw Poland
Fifth Annual Print Exhibition - Lessandra Gallery, Sophia Bulgaria
OutsiderArt - Pittsburgh USA
2004 Portraits 1994 – 2004 - Safe House Art Gallery Belfast N. Ireland
Depression Suite - Aware Centre for Depression, Belfast
ITEM - SAW Gallery , Ottawa
Recent Acquisitions - Carleton University Art Gallery Ottawa
2003 The Bigger Picture - Ottawa Art Gallery Ottawa
2003 Skulls - Museum of Arts and Sciences San Francisco
1999 Skin and Bones - Parkdale Visual Art Centre Toronto
Monkeys, Junkies, Martyrs and Flunkies - Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa
1998 Drawings and Paintings - Carl Davis Gallery, Ottawa
1997 ARTORAMA - Gallery 101, Ottawa
Oil and Steel - Carl Davis Gallery Ottawa
1996 New Fire Angels - Barnard-Biderman Fine Art, New York City
Through the Looking Glass - Warde-Nasse, New York City
F.I.A.C. 1996 - Paris France
Distillations of the Soul - Gallery C-O, Ottawa
1995 Saints and Sinners - Altelier 524, Montreal Quebec
Observatoire 4 - Montreal Quebec
David Cation - Teodora Art Gallery, Toronto
1994 David Cation Paintings - Barnard-Biderman Fine Art, New York City
Works on Paper - Carl Davis Gallery Ottawa
1993 Big Jesus,Gamblers and other Superheroes !!! - Idee Toronto
Big Jesus, Gamblers and other Superheroes - -Galerie Intersection Ottawa
1992 Women, Children and Men - Galerie Intersection, Ottawa
Toronto Indoor Art Show - Toronto
1991 Monoprints -The Studio Ottawa

Live Action Art Performances
Dark Carnival – Zaphod Beeblebrox and Babylon nightclubs, in collaboration with DJ Leslie and Harsh-Reality Productions. Ottawa
Strut Your Stuff – SAW Gallery, Ottawa, - live painting performance with Mark Marsters
Black Tie to Bondage – Artists fashion show,Ottawa - featuring a cast of body painted daglo skeletons.
ARTORAMA Gallery 101 – Painting performance (Ottawa) creating the Artguitar from studio scraps and garbage.

Related positions
-Painting Instructor Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa Board of Education, Visual Arts Centre Orleans, Private Lessons
-Museum Technician, City of Ottawa, Ottawa Art Gallery, SAW Gallery, Gallery 101, Artzone Fine Art Services.
-Set Designer and builder for theatre and dance productions, nightclubs and private functions
-Festival Co-organizer, Dark Carnival Ottawa Canada
-Gallery Coordinator, Galerie Intersection Ottawa, Gallery 1313 Toronto

Lectures
University of Ulster - Belfast Northern Ireland
Community Visual Images - Belfast Northern Ireland
University of Ottawa Canada
Ottawa School of Art Canada
Mayfield Secondary School - Brampton Ontario Canada

Grants and Awards
1999 Project Grant "A" , Region of Ottawa - Carleton
1998 Project Grant "A" , Region of Ottawa - Carleton
1995 Exhibition Assistance, Canada Consul General, New York City
1989, 90, 91, 92 - Exhibition Assistance, Ontario Arts Council
1989 Guy Gibson I.O.D.E. Award - Arts, High School of Commerce, Ottawa

Television Media
- Deprecation – Documentary film on the artist in Belfast during the exhibition Portraits 1994 - 2004. Produced by Northern Visions Television, Belfast. Directed by Aaron Dickson
- Rockburn and Company – Interview in the artists studio during preparations for the New York exhibition New Fire Angels. Produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Directed by Ken Rockburn.
- Studio Two – Interviews about the artist and his work during exhibitions at Carl Davis Gallery, Ottawa and Barnard-Biderman Fine Arts, New York City.

Collections and Commissions
Carleton University Art Gallery - Canada, Ottawa Art Gallery - Canada,
Peel Regional Board of Education – Canada, Canril Corporation, Canada,
Ottawa Sun Newspaper, Henderson Recration Equiptment Ltd., Canada,
John Paton and Blayne Collins, Toronto, Canada, Angels on Bank Street, Ottawa Canada, Mandela Design for Burning Man Festival, U.S.A., The Jumpers Painting commissioned for the production and book Contes Urbain. Directed by Patrick Leroux. Ottawa,
Depression Series – portrait series commissioned for publications by Aware Centre for Depression, Belfast Northern Ireland.

Monologue from David Cation Story

2006-01-08T00:39:00.000-08:00

This play, is a collective multi media project. It is titled Wings are Nearly Free. Suzanne Vega wrote a song Ironbound/Fancy Poultry. The title of my play was inspired by her words, "Wings are Nearly Free", from that song.
Posted below are excerpts from the play. The four characters are Death, The Painter, The Muse and The Clear Eyed Goddess Athena.This work in progress is a collective multimedia project.

Death Rest's in Love 28" x 22" ink on paper from the Dead Drawing Series 1998

Deaths Monologue , to the protaganist, after his suicide. This scene invloves Death, and the Painter, who have found themsekves on the river Hades.

Death "My life has always been theatre. A performance, a sketch...OR SO I HAD THOUGHT"!

(death smokes a cigarette, and begins to speak, almost Burroughs - like, but calmer, humble). "I don't think you can see anything that you could see before, I have this feeling you know,but do not you are not where you are anymore too, my sweet.

(Wine is distibuted to audience in small glasses. Death pours from an urn into two goblets, he sips from one then passes the other to the Painter. Technically the temp. drops app. 5degrees, fans blow toawrds the audience, an incencense burns ...Ariel has a great burner)

DeathTo the Audience and the Protaganist ..."You like it here , you think it is fine and that is what this place was created to be, just so fine... Now that you all have been given drink, join me , taste this wine...it is time. , let it rest on your toungue, inhale softly, feel it burn down your throat and inside of you. Feel this cool breeze, listen to this stream, Look deep into mine eyes, and feel my embrace around, and inside you

Death toasts the audience, and again beginds to speak "What the painter does not know as the likes of you do not either, he will realize that this nectar, this honey made of fruit and berry and wine is my body. My blood, my bones crushed to pulp. Everybody at one time consumes my body, my blood, my self. It fills this river Hades below, it pours down from the heavens when the world turns awry. It burns the field and forest and it is the tears of a newborne child. The tears of mother or her mournig kin. Smell it, taste it touch it too, hear it in the minstrels cry. See it through my burning eyes. I am joyed as you come to this land, underneath the sea ... We all have a time....time ....time..... it is the gift we share eternally....for it is eternity. oh but often such a burden, to see it go wasted by you and you and even you and damnit maybe even him!!!! (death points to the Painter) This quiet sacred river HAdes is from whence you have been blessed with your mortality. I...... AM...

Death turns to the Painter "I am equal to or greater than any god you have ever loved or ever feared. Darker than the cloaked ones, who raised you. who cradelled you. I was there when you had just been concieved, and In that moment , with a kiss I burned your name on your mothers tongue.

I guided your first fumbleing steps, and I walked you safely to school in those elementary years. I walked you past those awkward demons. I tied you off.

I rejoiced when you conceived your first child, and then another. With relish I whispered in your ears their names too....as it first crossed your lips.

I am that heat , that sweat, that cold you shiver from on a road in the midnights glare. I have walked in the early hours of the day, and inn the late hours too, waiting.....waiting for you to call. Sometimes you beckon so frozen and blacked from the death, and sometimes youjr heat is unbearable and the light you breath burns mine eyes and what skin I carry.

oh you, my lover, my mistress, my desparate whore. oh I crave you with my entire being, sometimes when I reach out to touch you my bones begin to crumble and I resign. And worse than that when I hear your beckon call to me...in a moment of self doubt or as a reflective, bloody tear forms in your eye. Oh yes I have so often heard your cries. Your weeping, I could not come.

Death continues

" Athena....The Clear Eyed Goddess. Both your angel and mine. She gave us both this pleaseure, this moment. From here and forevermorw we begin, to look, to see, to ponder...to find.... She has answered both your prayers and mine. For as time deceives even I...I have been here for you always. I wish now for you to be with me. Now I can come out of your skin, and we may see your truest visions. Oh Painter can you clearly see your pictures you can read your poems and stories now . You finally get to see what you have given this world.(judgement????)

(Death turns to the audience)

"We can read your poems, and songs, and study those paintings. We can research those documents you have prepared...review what you have taken and what you have been given. We can wiegh out what you have spoken what you have been told. And we can do all of this now.... undisturbed and finally... by you...

And it is I...I am the sonnets rhyme, I am the pigment in thase paintings, I am black and I am white, I am the law, I am the government, I am wealth and I am poverty. I am love and I am hatered.

Joy and sorrow.

Painter to Death, boldly "So in this...what is it. What are the things that keeps us alive each day. Today it maybe different than what it was yesterday, or tomorrow and all of its tomorrows after that. ( the Painters tone rises and lowers deep. under the n ails of the theatre stage itself). Today it will be different, different than it was before, and different than before then too. And those ways WILL keep on, they kept me going , perhaps today new ways need to be discovered. It is the dark heart that pulls me down. But it has been darkness too, that has kept me up . All the while we pray each day that it doesn't pull us too far... either way...

New ways must be discovered.

Painter turns and glances at Death, nods and sips the wine

Painter Responds to Death. from Wings are Nearly Free , Copyright David Cation Athena and The Muse listen in .( A dialogue between Death and The Painter develops soon after in which they wiegh the pro's and cons of The Painters death. The Painter responds to Death's monlogue. "What is it, what are the things that keep us alive today? Today it may be different, different than the way it was before. BEHOLD OUR BLESSED BEFORE!!!!!" He sneers back to the audience Hvolr exmoàpe sneers at Death Is it really a darkened heart that pulls us down and we beg it stop. Each moment so many sceam that it will stop before this earth crumble under our very feet were would find our selves here.....And that....dear doctor.....is beauty????. The Painter begins to rage You have given so much ifinite clarity n'are have I ever allowed grey , those ways kept me going....perhaps today, new ways will be found, perhaps we can find it in those colours you mock oh you devil you. , and now black and white have been taken too. I should damn you into the hell below us, always always waiting. David Cation

Skull with Reefer and Fit 40" x 30" oil on canvas

You are retarted in every step.Perhaps you could find answers in the papers I left for you.....oh loving desparate you . You simply a consultant.

(Death sitting , reclined, sips from his cup, flames arise suddenly consuming the Painter . Death sets his goblet down the flames retreat. "You were saying???" Death stares blindly at some distant speck.

Painter

"Oh Death, oh dark love, oh my Deareast One. My need for you has been deep with in me since before I came into this world. Of course you branded my mothers toungue. But now, especially now, in this unearthly state and Judgement you are still with me. I see how you will always be with and I with too. I can rest, in each moment in every day, in every single moment. Now... I can rest.

The Painter turns to the audience "Oh goddess, oh muse, oh ancient cloaked ones among you. Is this the rebirth??? is it this or is it that. is everything red or is it blue????? "

to Death "No matter. Do not get me wrong old man, ah, but of course you won't. I do not ponder an option in anything. I ponder only truth from non truths. Your tears have poured onto every pallette in which I scape. You wept in each pen, these exact words ....you know it is true, and yes so have I , you have taught me nothing, and nothing do I expect to learn from you.

... Perhaps... my gift to you will far outway any thing whoich has ever crossed this river. I will leave you in this place, the kind of Hell. You have no option, as I have none either. I will go back and in your blood speak your truths as horrid or gleefull as they might be, and I will continue with my documents for them to find. To remind them....that they have no chance...that, is my gift to you.

Blind Poem

2005-11-25T10:18:00.000-08:00

Blind Poem for my friend. dancer. and drinking girl. and brilliant artist Domnika

acrylic/canvas 30" x 50" 2002

www.artengine.ca/cation

Valentines

2005-11-25T10:59:00.000-08:00

The Aloha Room hosted a Valentines Day reception of New Word Paintings just after I left Char...stupid me.
I cannot enter the club anymore...drag...(see angels on bank street.)

Angels liars and lovers

2006-07-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

GOD SAVE THE QUEENS

aNGELS ON baNK sTREET

...circa 1998 .

for the fags the junkies the bitches, bastards and whores

the saving grace of a Nations Capital

we love you

Bank Street. @ Gilmour. Ottawa Canada

Buy the book Aubade by rob mclennan fall 2006

published by Broken Jaw Press, Canada

www.artengine.ca/cation

father, son, father

2006-02-02T16:24:00.000-08:00

Father, Son, Father
David Cation mixed media on paper. 33" x 11" 2005
It is always a good thing to remember why one paints.
My friend, my son, his father.
Blessed be.

www.artengine.ca/cation

Belfast Commissions

2006-07-12T20:33:00.000-07:00

Three portraits commissioned by Aware Centre for Depression. Belfast N. Ireland, 2004
www.artengine.ca/cation

Artist Goes to the Wall

2005-10-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

Artist Goes to the Wall
Since arriving in December from Ottawa, Mr. Cation has created a vast collection of new artworks, which includes more than 100 drawings and paintings.
The artworks currently on display range from oil portraits to word art, done in watercolour and acrylic on paper.
“If you spend a lot of time in my kitchen you will end up on canvas,” says Mr. Cation, of how he is inspired by the people around him.
Examples of his work include one piece titled Love Song - Revolver, which depicts a gun over the words “love song,” while another features a butterfly sharing space with the word revolver.
Mr. Cation says these particular pieces illustrate the direction his work is now taking, which is quite different the traditional portraits he used to paint. Last fall, Mr. Cation was featured in an art show at Safehouse Art Space,

in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Lovesong/revolver
David Cation 2004

11" x 33" gouache on paper

childrens aid society ontario - lies beyond belief

2006-01-18T10:56:00.000-08:00

David Cation 2005

Lies Beyond Belief... acrylic paint on Toshiba tv set. 18 x 22 x 22"

This painted tv set was inspired by my two year case againt the

Childrens Aid Society of Ontario. Initially I thought just to paint the screen blue with the single word lies....

EVERY Childrens Aid Society Employee I have dealt with, have based their case, on misinformation, heresay, and lies.... CAS does good work, but what are the statistics on case histories of both the children and parents. How did things work out.

2005-09-27T08:22:00.000-07:00

Here is what has been going on the with my work as an artist both in Canada and abroad. I wish to thank the many individuals who made the Belfast exhibition a great success. In particular Danny Burke, Anita Eutenierier, Ken Rockburn, Anto, Ruth, and Gerry. Also, Laganside Foundation-Belfast, Community Arts Foundation-Belfast, http://www.artengine.ca/ Ottawa, Canada, The Ormeau Center - Belfast, Aware Center for Depression-Belfast, Northern Visions Television- Belfast, Pat's Bar, Farset Internationa, The Duke, The Empire Club, The John Hewitt Pubs in Belfast.www.artengine.ca/cation There have been a number of exhibitions, a documentary by filmmaker Aaron Dickson and a few recent articles on my work.
Ottawa exhausted itself as my home of twenty years.
My passage out of town brought forth a new manuscript entitled Leaving Ottawa. I have also setup a new studio in where The Homicide Paintings are being painted.
hello

Belfast Retrospective

2005-11-25T11:28:00.001-08:00

David Cation
Portaits 1994 - 2004
SAFEHOUSE ARTSPACE GALLERY
David Cation's eye-catching exhibition is his first in Ireland. He tell Brian Campbell about his unique take on the fragility of the hunan condition... An exhibition titled Portraits does't sound like the most original works you might chance upon, but David Cation's Portraits 1994 - 2004 will take you by surprise.The portraits in question are portraits of skulls, astonishing in that such bold and vivid colours are used in subject matter which couldn't be starker.There's no doubting the Canadian is a true talent and his show at Belfast's Safehouse Arts Space - his first in Ireland - will surely be the first of many on European shores.A visiting artist and lecturer all over his native Canada, Cation has also exhibited in museums and galleries from New York to San Francisco to Toronto and has work in seversl public and private Canadian collections.He was recently involved with an exhibition at the California Academy of Arts and Sciences alongside Andy Warhol and Jean Michel Basquiat.As can be seen by his Skull paintings - described by one critic as -the morbid crania are painted like some caustic advertisement for the Gap -. he does more than strip down his subjects and his fascination with the fragiltiy of the human condition hasbeen hieghtened in recent years. "Skulls are portraits too. I whittled it down from painting figures to portraits and then just removed more layers, he says.A lot of my friends have died. I have lost alot of my friends in the last ten years. Even Zoe, my former wife died. (The image pictured, is one of him and his wife.)
As for the use of such bold colours in the portraits, say strives to create contast in his work. "Its a classic elment of design. Portraits of skulls say death, but what is death? It is a door closing . And what happens when cllose a door, You"re in another room. Itès not a bad thing: the same way that life is not a good thing. It just is. It's another thing."Still on the subject of mortality, Cation has worked alot with street kids in his native Ottawa in a bid to tackle teenage suicide.It's the number one killer of teenagers: suicide. The particular problem is that issues like that are ignored so hard in Ottawa, because it's the nation's capital.."I met a group of street kids and they'd come to the studio every Tuesday and I'd do portraiture."Ten years later, I still work with some of those kids. Some have died, but some have gone on to do OK.""You pull them out of the alleys and give them a paintbrush. It's my way of giving something back to society.""It's helping them learn about art and I get a little bit of help too."However, Cation hints that his stint in Europe may be permanent, as he feels he has done all he can in Canada."I've no reason to be there. No reason whatsoever. I had everything Ottawa had to offer and I gave it everything I have. There's nothing else there, so why stay? You'd just get frustrated.""I say that if you see yourself on cover of the local arts paper, you have to leave town, unfortunatley '"Most of the work I did there in the last two years was sets for theatre, nightclub sets, event design, parties and I'm starting to move more into museum work and away from commercial work."In previous paintings, Cation dealt with religious iconography, while his next works will be based on words. He said he would like to organise a festival/art party in Europe called The Dark Carnival - as he did in Canada.And if he revels in painting the darker side of life, it's no surprise that he gets some interesting people admiring his work:"Ozzy Osbourne even contacted us, because during his last Canadian tour he was in Quebec City and my show caught his eye."

movie moveme

2005-09-26T23:19:00.000-07:00

Word painting inspired by a love poem I wrote to Zoe in 1986. She passed in September 2003, age 38, cancer. A loving mother to both our children Alanna Helen and Brooks Vincent.

Ottawa Xpress Story

2005-09-27T09:16:00.000-07:00

INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS
David Cation is an Ottawa painter known for his figurative paintings and drawings that speak of the complexity of the human condition. This past fall Cation was honoured with a retrospective of his portraits at Safehouse Art Space in Belfast, Northern Ireland. While in Ireland, he was the subject of a short documentary film by Belfast artist Aaron Dickson. To see why the Irish loved Cation's work go to http://www.aarondickson.com/. The film is titled Deprecation, and can be found under the short films section.

San Francisco - 2002

2005-10-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

SKULLS
This canvas Famous American Negroe Painter was
displayed alongside work by Andy Warhol and Jean
Michel Basquiat in the exhibition SKULLS at the California Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Alanna's Painting

2005-09-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

2005-09-27T07:04:00.000-07:00

David Cation.
As Wings on Angels. acrylic on canvas