David Buchan (artist)

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David William Buchan (February 11, 1950 – January 5, 1993) was a Canadian artist and graphic designer linked to Toronto's alternative art scene. Born in Grimsby, Ontario, he earned a BA Honours from York University in 1972. He lived in Montreal from 1972 to 1975, where he began collecting vintage clothing, especially suits, which influenced his art. He returned to Toronto in 1975, joined the General Idea collective, and ran the Art Metropole art bookstore from 1975 to 1985, helping grow its archives. His Modern Fashions series, black-and-white photographs of clothing, circulated in many venues and later fed his slide shows and performances.

In 1978 he created the performance Fruit Cocktails featuring the persona "Lamonte del Monte," a character he used in later work. In the mid-1980s, he started making large color transparencies and prints that often referenced advertising and historical art. He participated in international group exhibitions in Stuttgart (1983), London (1991), and New York (1991), with performances also in Vienna, Brussels, Frankfurt, and Basel.

Buchan died in Toronto in 1993 from HIV/AIDS-related causes. His archives are held by the Library & Archives of the National Gallery of Canada as part of the Art Metropole Collection. His work is in several major Canadian collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, the Canada Council Art Bank, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.