David Sorensen

Through his painterly modern compositions, celebrated Canadian painter David Sorensen (1937-2011) sought to “give voice to the inner reality.” In the paintings from his last years, Sorensen offers solutions to the nature of abstraction – wresting nature and the horizon from pure form and brilliant colour.

Born in Vancouver in 1937, Sorensen studied at UBC and the Vancouver School of Art under Arthur Erickson, Bill Reid and Jack Shadbolt. Shadbolt, who in turn had studied Hans Hoffman, invited American art critic Clement Greenberg to the school to discuss abstraction including the work of Rothko, Pollock and Kline. These influences helped shape Sorensen’s painterly approach to non-figurative art. In 1964, the artist moved to Montreal where he held teaching positions at the Montreal Museum School of Art, the Saidye Bronfman Centre and later Bishop’s University.

Over his long career, Sorensen exhibited in Switzerland, France, Italy, Japan, China, the US and across Canada. In 2005, the Musée du Bas Saint-Laurent in Riviere-du-Loup, QC curated a 45 year retrospective of the artist’s work. In 1996, Sorensen was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. His work is held in private, corporate and public collections including the Musée d’art contemporain de Montreal, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Hamilton and more.