Snow White No 02

About Snow White No 02

Four precisely configured and stacked circles in rust-brown, black, light brown and sand form a contemplative whole at the foot of a square snow white ground. The areas between the shapes in this minimalist acrylic painting on plexiglass are filled with pale yellow and maroon. This work is framed.

Cantine's work is a poetic and intellectual exploration of a pictorial problem, color as structure which has infinite variations. Cantine may be referred to as a post-minimalist, a term coined by Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971 to describe work with a minimalist tendency but that uses modest materials and aims towards a pure formalist aesthetic. Cantine was quoted in the Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art 2000: "For the past 26 years, I have painted essentially the same still life, which began as a pair of apples and its shadow, and evolved under pressure of color into the present imagery."

David Cantine is a senior Canadian painter who has been exploring the still life for many years. Cantine was born in Jackson, Michigan (1939) and studied at the University of Iowa (BFA, MA) before moving to Alberta and working as a professor in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Alberta (1965 – 96). His work has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of Alberta, FAB Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art among others and is represented in numerous private and public collections.