David Bolduc

David Bolduc (1945–2010) was an abstract artist who used colour and central imagery in his paintings, inspired by artists such as Jack Bush. Critics suggest that he and artists such as Daniel Solomon formed a bridge between the second and third generations of Toronto modernists or even form part of the third generation of Toronto abstract painters which includes artists such as Alex Cameron and Paul Sloggett.

Early life The son of Eugenie and Bernard Bolduc, Matisse provided a model for what Bolduc wanted, Bolduc said, "To be complex within what would seem to be a simple structure".

Career In 1967, his work featured groupings of shaped canvases with contoured surfaces carrying simple geometric colour designs. He subsequently abandoned colour to work with minimal constructions of stretched white vinyl and then with simple structures made of rope, wood, and mirrors.

By the mid-1970s, Bolduc had developed his personal territory, central imagery abstracts. Bolduc's signature as a painter was a main motif articulated in impasto colour drawn directly from the tube on top of a stained background. Bolduc once said that for him the "vertical member – a figure, a tree, a stamen, a column, a mast, a pylon, a stele, a stack of colours, a line of organizational force, an armature upon which the rest of the painting was wound – began as the hands of a watch, both of them pointing straight upward to midnight".

These canvases incorporated a bold central image which, at times, was repeated across the canvas. The main motif, described by Bolduc as a carrier for colour, was rendered in bright colours and set upon a textured backdrop. Bolduc remarked on his use of colour: "I'm interested in taking a nothing colour and giving it some bite to make it warmer. I'm not trying to be innovative. I'm not trying to make an object you haven't seen before. Colour is all that I am working with".

Bolduc drew inspiration for his painting from different exotic locales and travelled often to attain it, such as his 1968 trip across Europe to Turkey, overland to Nepal, returning home via Uzbekistan and Moscow. Bolduc hired a lawyer to sue for the return of his work, but there are different accounts about whether the suit succeeded. For the exhibitors, it was of primary importance.

In 1976, Bolduc exhibited at the David Mirvish Gallery and, when it closed in 1977, with Alkis Klonaridis, who opened his own gallery after working for Mirvish. Later, Bolduc was affiliated for 27 years with Calgary's Paul Kuhn Gallery.

A memorial show in May 2010 was held at Christopher Cutts Gallery in Toronto. Between 1968 and 2008, there was only one year – 1994 – in which new work was not featured in a solo or group exhibit.

Selected public collections Bolduc's paintings can be found in major collections across Canada, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Art Gallery of Alberta, as well as the Mirvish Collection.