BIO

David Yu is a Canadian multimedia, installation, and performance artist. He received a Masters in Fine Art from The Slade School of Fine Art in London, UK and received a Bachelors in Fine Art from the Ontario College of Art and Design.  Some highlights from his exhibition record include: a city-wide art installation commissioned and curated by the Duncan and Jordanstone College of Art and Design, funded by the Scottish Arts Council (2010); a Triangle Arts Trust residency and solo exhibition at the Kuona Trust Gallery in Nairobi, Kenya (2010); participation with Flux Night 2012, Atlanta,Georgia, with a multi-channel video installation; MART Gallery Dublin, Ireland (2015); LocustProjects, Miami, Florida (2018); YYZ Artist Outlet, Toronto, Canada (2018); Orleans Gallery, Ottawa, Canada (2018); Mayworks Festival, Toronto, Canada and Nicolas Robert Gallery, Toronto, Canada (2022). Currently, David is working on performance-based research which investigates the role of the viewer as “performer” within installation practices, which has been generously funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. 

PRACTICE

David has an interdisciplinary artistic practice that he subcategorizes under multimedia, installation, and performance. His work stretches from sculptural forms and installation, to audio, video, and live performers. David positions himself within the creator catalyst role that generates situations for viewers to negotiate. His practice attempts to modify and pinpoint areas where sculpture/installation, performance, and audience intersect by exposing the notion of the performative gesture that can be embedded in the aforementioned elements. David attempts to coerce viewers into performance, integrating themselves within the experience of the artwork.

With much of his work there is an element of social experimentation, garnering responses through a reaction to planned situations. Ultimately David aims for a blurring between a constructed situation and a “real” situation.