David Wilson is a contemporary Canadian painter whose work captures the emotional resonance, fluidity, and memory embedded within the urban landscape. Based in East Vancouver, he uses representational imagery—streets, skylines, windows, rain-slicked reflections—as the foundation for a process that increasingly pushes toward abstraction. His surfaces evolve through numerous layers of paint, fragments of text, marks, symbols, and gestures. Some remain visible, others disappear beneath subsequent strata, echoing the way memories build, fade, and resurface.

Wilson’s creative interests began in childhood, long before he pursued formal study. Primarily self-taught, he expanded his practice through selected coursework at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design from 1994 to 1996. Encounters with the work of artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Cy Twombly, and Alberto Giacometti had a profound influence on his willingness to embrace fluidity, to relinquish absolute control, and to allow paint—especially water—to have its own voice on the surface.

Living in the rain-soaked Pacific Northwest, Wilson finds constant inspiration in water: its unpredictability, its reflective qualities, and the visceral emotional spaces it creates. As he writes, “Water, or fluidity, is a pervasive theme that runs through so much of my work… Those rain-slicked city streets reflect so much of ourselves back at us—it’s like peering into a distorted mirror.”

His paintings become kaleidoscopes of light, weather, memory, and movement. Drips, streaks, and layered washes mimic rainfall. Colour shifts mimic twilight, neon, and wet pavement. Through these choices he transforms everyday urban scenes into meditative, atmospheric passages—places that sit between reality and recollection.

Over the past twenty years, Wilson has exhibited widely across Canada, including Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, Canmore, Kelowna, and Newfoundland. His work is held in major private and corporate collections, including Dentons Canada, Odlum Brown, Haywood Securities, Brian Jessel BMW, the Law Society of British Columbia, and many others.

Wilson works full-time from his East Vancouver studio, continually exploring light, colour, and the emotional landscapes of the city. His practice remains rooted in fluidity—harnessing both control and surrender—to reveal something deeply human within the urban world.

“Water and fluidity run through so much of my work. Living in the Pacific Northwest, the rain becomes unavoidable, shaping how we see and feel the city. My paintings use representational subjects only as a starting point—what matters is the abstraction that emerges through layers, drips, and movement. These surfaces mirror the way memory behaves: overlapping, erasing, revealing, and reinventing itself.”

EDUCATION

Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC (1994–1996)

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

(Chronological Order)

2024 — The Time We Have Left, Gibson Fine Art, Calgary, AB

2023 — The Ground Beneath My Feet, VisualSpace Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2022 — From There to Here, James Baird Gallery, Pouch Cove, NL

2022 — In From the Cold, Gibson Fine Art, Calgary, AB

2021 — Roughly Speaking, Elevation Gallery, Canmore, AB

2020 — Close to Home, Kurbatoff Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2019 — Everywhere From Here, 1387 Railspur Alley, Vancouver, BC

2018 — Water, Kimoto Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2017 — Interrupting the Interface, Kimoto Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2016 — Absence, Kimoto Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2015 — Light and Colour, Kimoto Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2015 — New Works, James Baird Gallery, Pouch Cove, NL

2014 — Intersections, Kimoto Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2013 — Construct/Deconstruct, Winsor Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2012 — New Works, Bugera Matheson Gallery, Edmonton, AB

2011 — If I Could Have It All I Would Give It to You, Winsor Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2010 — New Works, Ian Tan Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2009 — Somewhere in the Middle, Ian Tan Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2008 — Transitions, Atelier Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2007 — More Than Blue, Atelier Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2006 — Winter, Atelier Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2005 — Here and There: 100 New Works, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna, BC

2005 — Here and There, Aion Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2004 — Illumination, Aion Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2003 — Fragments, Anne Carlson Fine Art, Vancouver, BC

2000 — New Works, John Ramsay Gallery, Vancouver, BC

1999 — Vancouver Landscapes, John Ramsay Gallery, Vancouver, BC

1993 — New Works, Barret-Post Contemporary Art, Vancouver, BC

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

(Chronological Order)

2024 — Affordable Art Fair, New York City

2017 — Water, James Baird Gallery, Pouch Cove, NL

2011 — Two Artists: David Wilson & Gabryel Harrison, Agnes Bugera Gallery, Edmonton, AB

2010 — Dusk/Dark, Agnes Bugera Gallery, Edmonton, AB

2009 — Two-Man Exhibition: Wilson & Andre Pettersen, Wallace Gallery, Calgary

2008 — Dog Days of Summer, Atelier Gallery, Vancouver

2008 — Noctuary, Agnes Bugera Gallery, Edmonton

2007 — Dog Days of Summer, Atelier Gallery, Vancouver

2006 — Gallery Artists Exhibition, Atelier Gallery, Vancouver

2004 — Lighten Up, Aion Art Gallery, Vancouver

2003 — Accrochage I, Aion Art Gallery, Vancouver

2003 — Artropolis 2003, CBC Studios, Vancouver

2002 — Monochrome, Anne Carlson Fine Art, Vancouver

2002 — The State Files, The State Gallery, Vancouver

2001 — Gallery Artists Exhibition, John Ramsay Gallery

2000 — Gallery Artists Exhibition, John Ramsay Gallery

1999 — Gallery Artists Exhibition, John Ramsay Gallery

1998 — Deck the Walls, John Ramsay Gallery

1994 — Art Rental & Sales Small Painting Exhibition, Vancouver Art Gallery

1994 — Group Exhibition, Sarah Dobbs Gallery, Vancouver

1993 — Photo Based Bits & Pieces, Barret-Post Contemporary Art, Vancouver

SELECTED CORPORATE COLLECTIONS

Brian Jessel BMW, Vancouver

The Burrard Hotel, Vancouver

Dentons Canada LLP

Odlum Brown

Haywood Securities

Richards Buell Sutton LLP

Law Society of British Columbia

Hungerford Properties

Longview Capital

Mockingbird Films

Senvest Collection, Montreal

Hunter Dickinson Inc.

Fremar Construction

Copicor Solutions

Lorne McLean Family Law Corp.

Victor O’Connor Legal Counsel

… and more.

RELATED ART ACTIVITIES

(Chronologically condensed)

Canada Council Travel Grant

2022

Major Fundraising Contributions

Arts Umbrella “Splash” Auction (2001–2014, 2016, 2022–2023)

JDRF Fundraising Auctions (2014, 2017)

Children’s Heart Network Fundraiser (2017)

York House School Auction (2014)

Ronald McDonald House Fundraiser (2013)

BC Children’s Hospital Auction (2013)

Artist in Residence

Artists for Kids, Paradise Valley Summer School for Visual Arts (2014)