University of Ottawa (U of O), master of fine arts student David Kaarsemaker previewed his graduating thesis exhibit at the Carleton University Art Gallery (CUAG) and talked in detail about his art, on Aug. 18.
This is the third consecutive year CUAG has partnered with U of O’s department of fine arts to present a thesis at the exhibition, according to Glen Bloom, a member of CUAG’s advisory committee.
“CUAG’s mission includes providing a vital cultural resource for both Carleton University and the wider community,” Bloom said.
Bloom said Kaarsemaker’s paintings have a transcendental, surrealistic, and psychoanalytical quality to them. His complicated layered process, begi
nnning with a maquette based off rooms or houses which he remembers from his life, indicates a certain genius that he possesses, according to Bloom.
Bloom said “David Kaarsemaker Pictures” explores th
e relationship between “the practice of painting, the physical world, and memory.”
Exhibition curator Heather Anderson said she remembered seeing the evolution of his work while visiting Kaarsemaker’s studio to prepare for the exhibition.
“His rigorous studio practice has resulted in what I think is a very compelling and thoughtful exhibition and body of work,” she said.
Kaarsemaker said he chose to focus on places he has experienced.
“I think it was interesting as I’ve been doing this kind of researching writing on homes, and place, and all those types of the whole kind of literature of place,” he said.
“The home is a nice kind of image for the mind. Because we live in houses, they help spatialize our memory,” he said.
Memory is a key concept in Kaarsemaker’s thesis exhibition.
“I learned about this concept called the ‘memory palace’ which is a rhetorical device used in Ancient Greece a lot, so people could write down notes for speeches,” he said. “What they would do is picture a building and then put objects in the building that would trigger memories and things for their speech so they would move through their mind in that building and that is how they would remember their speech.’”
Anderson said she appreciates the way Kaarsemaker sets specific parameters to work with while still giving himself ample space to experiment and explore.
“By making its gallery space here available for an MFA thesis exhibition, CUAG advances its mission of providing a local cultural resource to the Ottawa community,” Bloom said.
