Dick Der was born in China in 1949 and moved to Canada as a one-year-old. His childhood was spent in rural Saskatchewan before moving to Edmonton, where he continues to paint. His compositions are bold and richly pigmented, reminiscent of the collages of Kurt Schwitters and Alberto Burri. Using pieces of cardboard, metallic shavings, and recovered industrial detritus, Der integrates weighty materials into his work. Initially appearing to be modernist abstractions, his paintings may be more poignantly read as topographical landscape portraits. Drawing from his prairie upbringing, Der’s pieces present aerial impressions of a grided landscape, encompassing vast agricultural expanses, as well as sites of unrelenting resource extraction. Der strains and extends his materials, suggesting the enduring beauty of place amidst the relentlessness of human development.
