David Carey

David Carey was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In 2013 he moved to Port Moody near Vancouver in British Columbia where he now resides.

His major influence in his early days of photography was the painter Alex Colville who was the foremost exponent of sharp-focus Magic Realism - a style close to Surrealism. In his structuring of photographs Carey was influenced by Colville's perfect compositions based on an abundance of sketches and studies, which were first brought into an abstract, geometric scheme before drawings were made from the live model.

Through the years much of Carey's work has focused on reliving his childhood with the help of his children and grandchildren and the love of all things miniature. A Boy's Dream is made up of photographs of airplanes and dirigibles from his favorite children's book relocated to background photos of his condo. Bookworms I documented the life of bookworms, those tiny shy creatures that lived in children's books and built structures to aid characters in trouble. Bookworms II continues this theme but with bookworms who live in classical antique books and build structures that are related to the themes in the book. The Gnomes of Port Moody documents the transition of gnomes living in the forest to their new life actively participating in community activities in Port Moody. Dinosaurs uses 3 D digital dinosaurs to document what life would be like in an urban environment if dinosaurs still roamed the earth. The Secret Life of Plants illustrates the rich miniature life going on with plants when they are seen in extreme closeup.

The artist's current project, Subtle Mash-ups, has taken a bit of a turn. He is creating mash-ups by modifying old oil paintings, which are in the public domain, with modern creative touches.

Carey was basically self-taught but later in his career he obtained an MFA in Photography from Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College, New York. The artist has had a number of one person shows, a portfolio published in Photo Life magazine, has published a children's book of photographs and received several professional development travel, study and exhibition grants from the Manitoba Arts Council.

Collections include the Winnipeg Art Gallery and some private collectors.