| "In a time of understanding what understanding is ... or the different ways of understanding ... it's worthwhile to refer to ancient Chinese notions of energy cycles. Man stands and is rooted to the earth and at the same time has his head in the realm of the heavens, which is his inspiration. In my paintings I am aware of this simultaneous focus."
David Sorensen Regarding the recent catalogue "Abstraction from Here to Now" available through ABCartbooksCanada.com (2002): The duality of Sorensen's career is reflected in two distinct essays. Grande describes the young painter's experience at the Vancouver School of Art, influences such as Pollock, Rothko and Kerouac and teachers such as Jack Shadbolt. Later journeys through New Mexico, Colorado, Mexico and most recently Cuba added the visual feast of these new-found cultures to the abstract devices and desires that had always informed Sorensen's work. The result is a vibrant new body of work with 70 paintings in the past two years. Grande then takes us through Sorensen's training in casting and welding also at the Vancouver School of Art and again with the best teachers, among them Bill Reid, to his current sculptural work in Québec's Eastern Townships where he now lives. David Sorensen has exhibited throughout Canada and the United States. From the Bio in the catalogue: David Sorensen was born in West Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1937. He studied Arts and Science, and subsequently Architecture with Arthur Erickson, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Following this, he spent a year in gallery and museum research in Europe, then completed a four-year diploma at the Vancouver School of Art. A Theo Koerner Foundation Travel Grant in 1962 enabled him to first go to Mexico, where he studied foundry practices in bronze casting. His first solo exhibition was in the Turok Wasserman Gallery in Mexico City in 1964. Returning to Canada in Montreal, and exhibiting at the Youth Pavilion at Expo 67, Sorensen settled in this cosmopolitan centre, gradually establishing a network of galleries to represent him in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa. For the next seven years he exhibited regularly, and simultaneously taught art in various CEGEP programs, at the Saidye Bronfman Centre, and at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts School of Art and Design. In 1976 he moved with his wife Bella and their new family to the Eastern Townships, built a solar house and continued his painting and sculpture practice. He first taught at Champlain College, then changed to the Fine Arts Program at Bishop's University in 1981, and retired in 2000. Sorensen's solo exhibitions have been based in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Hamilton and Ottawa, but he has also exhibited internationally in Tokyo, Paris, Milan, Hong Kong, Manila, New York, Boston, Chicago, and most recently, in Guadalajara and Guanajuato in Mexico. His solo venues have included D'Avignon, Waddinton, Gilles Corbeil, Espace 5 in Montreal, Bau-Xi and Carmen Lamanna in Toronto, Bau-Xi in Vancouver, Ron Moore in Hamilton, Wallack in Ottawa, Luz Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, the gallery of the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, Touchstone Gallery in Hong Kong, Galleria del Millione in Milan, A.A.R.P. in Paris, Galerie Etoile in Boston, Galleria Vertice, Club Industriales, Haus der Kunst, the Ex-Convento del Carmen in Guadalajara and the Museo Casa Diego Rivera in Guanajuato, Mexico. Current awards and honours:
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