Biography

K. Plantinga is a musician and emerging visual artist from Vancouver Island, currently based in rural Nova Scotia. After many years touring across Canada in bands and as a solo musician—building a reputation for immersive, emotionally evocative performances—he began seriously pursuing visual art in 2023.

Working intuitively, Plantinga explores what he calls peaceful tension: the coexistence of beauty and calm with a hint of the discomfort of being human. His background in music continues to shape his visual practice, and his public presentations often combine painting with audio or performance elements to create immersive experiences.

Plantinga uses masks and pseudonyms to hide his artistic identity, to shift the focus from his personal story to the work itself. Part of that is about protecting his privacy and sanity in the age of social media. But it’s also a way to experiment with what a sense of mystery can add to the viewer’s experience, transforming the artist into the artwork itself.