By Melissa Barnard, part of the 2024 Scarborough Art Show team
David’s passion for art began at an early age and continued to grow during his years in high school, where he found he knew that he wanted to pursue a career in art.
After high school David enrolled in an Art Certificate Course, studying at the Seaforth and East Sydney Technical College. He then went on to the City Art Institute in Sydney and later completed a Master of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong.
David has been involved in many group and solo exhibitions since 1989, winning numerous prizes and awards. His work is held in private, public and university collections both in Australia and overseas (in Dubai, New Zealand, United Kingdom, China, Netherlands and the US) and has been featured in numerous publications.
Much of David’s work is based on the environment within the Illawarra region. Although his work is regional in character and subject matter, he states his intention is “to express and explore a variety of issues that go beyond a localised context.” He explores the landscape, “often focusing on the sublime in an attempt to discover truth with respect to location, and an ethereal interpretation of place, rather than just a pictorial representation.”
We asked David a few questions about his art practice.
From where do you draw your creative inspiration?
I draw most of my inspiration from the world around me. To put it simply, it is where I live in the Northern Illawarra and other places that I have lived in the past or visited regularly that inspire me in my art work.
How do your art practice and your life intersect?
Art, and particularly painting, has always been a big part of my life. For me, life and art are one and the same. It helps me stay focused in my life and gives me a true sense of purpose doing something I love.
Can you tell us a little about your personal artistic journey.
My work is predominantly landscape-based and generally representational in style.
Observational studies and developed drawings are important to me and are an integral to my approach to painting. I have explored abstraction at various times in the past, but I often tend to prefer a type of balancing act between the two, combined with a little ‘artistic license’, to better determine suitable compositions and formats in painting and to avoid a literal or ‘picturesque’ interpretation of the subject matter.
It is my intention to create a sense of ‘place’ in my work by reducing and deconstructing the subject matter to give the viewer not just a visual memory, but an evocative sense of being there and experiencing that place.
What will you be bringing to the Scarborough Art Show this year?
I hope to bring some recent landscapes to the Scarborough show this year as well as some figurative work that I have been pursuing over the last one to two years. Some of the landscapes are based on the escarpment that we see in the Northern Illawarra, but they also reference aspects of other regions around the Sydney area that I have painted in the past.
What do you enjoy about the Scarborough Art Show?
I have exhibited at the Scarborough Art Show continuously for several years. The show has continued to grow enormously in popularity and the way it is organised and managed is second to none. What I like about the show is that it gives artists the opportunity to show their work to the public and meet and socialise at a wonderful event.
Scarborough Art Show will be back at Scarborough Public School on Saturday, October 12th (10am-5pm) and Sunday, October 13th (10am-2pm). Admission: $5 for adults, $3 concession, Children under 13 enter free of charge.
