David McIntosh
Making art is my second career. Originally an engineer, I completed 25 years in business before obtaining a Diploma in Fine Arts at the Toronto School of Art (1994-97). My wife and I moved to the Bancroft area in July 2002.
As recently as a year and a half ago my painting practice mostly concerned the human figure. After a trip to the North Saskatchewan River, late in October 2001, I began a transition to painting river landscapes. My work is now focussed on the Madawaska River and its tributaries, notably the York River. I use a camera and a canoe to explore and gather ideas for my work. The river flows and turns and sometimes struggles its way through the landscape. Over its length, the river sees all and knows its own destiny. The river is an obvious metaphor for the human journey. The river, along with the trees, banks and sky around it, is filled with beautiful shapes and colours and boundless energy. These are the elements I work with. When I paint in my studio my mind is transported to the river, and I try to join these elements together in ways that honour the beauty I see, and that respond to my experience of it.
I have also worked as a sculptor in plaster and wood. I make life size figures that depict states of heart and mind that are universal to the experience of contemporary life. I haven’t made any sculpture for about four years, but the studio I have built here will allow me to resume this part of my practice during the warm months. Over the next few years, I am looking forward to populating our land with sculptures that respond to it in spirit as I do.
D. McIntosh
July 2003
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York River Fallen Tree (2003) Oil on Canvas 36"x30" |
