David Garneau

David Garneau (born 1962) is a Métis artist whose practice includes painting, curating, and critical writing.

Biography Garneau was born in Edmonton, Alberta and having a mother who was an artist, always made art. In high school he was inspired by an article on Joe Fafard to be an artist.

Garneau has curated exhibitions for the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina such as Close Strangers Distant Relations (2009) and Moving Forward, Never Forgetting, with Michelle LaVallee (2015) as well With Secrecy and Despatch, with Tess Allas, an international exhibition about massacres of Indigenous people, and memorialization, for the Campbelltown Art Centre, Sydney, Australia. In 2017, he co-curated with Kathleen Ash-Milby Transformer: Native Art in Light and Sound, National Museum of the American Indian, New York City, which exhibited the work of 10 Indigenous artists and in 2020, he curated Kahwatsiretátie: The Contemporary Native Art Biennial in Montreal with assistance from Faye Mullen and rudi aker.

Garneau has lectured nationally and internationally on issues such as misappropriation, reconciliation, and Indigenous contemporary art. In 2023, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Work Garneau is one of only a few Métis artists making work that is both contemporary and influenced by Métis culture. He is predominantly a still-life painter, but works at incorporating ideas about his Métis heritage

He said of his work in 2023, "My work is full of ideas. It's not just images. They're tied to complex history".

Selected public collections Garneau's works are found in the collections of the Canadian Museum of History (Ottawa), The Canadian Parliament, the Mackenzie Art Gallery (Regina), the Remai Modern (Saskatoon), Glenbow Museum (Calgary), City of Calgary, University of Regina, and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, among others.

Public art Tawatinâ Bridge project, Edmonton (2021): paintings by Garneau are installed on the underside of the concrete Valley Line light rail transit deck, which also serves as the ceiling of the pedestrian walkway.

Awards He has won awards for curating in Sydney, Australia, as well as for mentorship and Métis art in Saskatchewan. In 2023, he received the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.