Studio interior and still life, 2023

This painting is an examination of colour, form. weight and space, but also more importantly it’s about the process of painting itself. My work uses well known motifs as a vehicle to explore, uncover and deliver an honest and authentic painted mark that not only responds to my experience of deep looking but also grapples with the two-dimensional rectangle that makes up the picture plane and the challenge, frustration and absurdity of painting itself. My work attempts to explore not just what we see but how we see it. Because how we see is how we experience the world around us. In this sense the subject of the painting seeks to strip away the distortion, assumptions and mental constructs that acquired habits of looking create, and respond as directly and experientially as possible to the subject in front of me at that moment. Drawing, as the most immediate and direct response an artist can have to the world around them is fundamental to my practice and underpins my painted mark.

David completed art school in 1999 but then promptly got pulled into a different pathways and professions. However, throughout the past 2 decades, art has always called to him, so after a change in life circumstances in mid 2022, he finally answered that call and embarked on serious and sustained studio-based practice.

Born 1977 Melbourne Australia. Lives and works in Melbourne.

Education

1995–99 Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours). Painting major.

Group exhibitions

2023 Honourable Mention – Brunswick Street Gallery Fifty Squared Art Prize

2023 Online finalist (Salon des refuses) – Lethbridge 20000 Small Scale Art Award

1999 Where are we Now, Gallery 5, Victoria

1998 Graduate Exhibition, Monash University, Faculty of Art & Design, Victoria