Born in New York in 1971, David’s father lent his creative nature to his young son. “There are no other artists in my family, but my father is very creative. Growing up I was exposed to his active imagination and sparkling sense of humor. I remember him sitting with my brother and me to tell us amazing stories. I realized later he was just making them up as he went along. My fam- ily always encouraged me and had faith in what I chose to do. I remember people outside of the family (teachers or friends of the family) would sometimes discourage art as not being a practi- cal life choice. I felt a determination early on to prove these people wrong and justify my family’s faith in my choices.”

While David does have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, he first dis- covered his ability to capture his imagination as a young boy. He recalls, “I had always been tortured by my own over active imagination when I was a child, seeing things in the dark and feeling the presence of all kinds of spir- its and creatures all around me. There was also another kid in the neighborhood who was very different then the others. He would talk to people who were not there, and seemed to live in a world that was more fantasy than reality.

It was almost like he lived in a state of waking REM sleep. One day we were playing and he wanted to draw. Although this was something he seemed to do often, I had never done it before. He exploded into his drawing and it was not so much a picture but an event, an adventure. While he drew a story unfolded. Wars were waged, lives were lost and he- roes emerged. For me, that day, a whole new world opened up. I found a channel for my imagination. I found the paper to be a place to safely manifest all the spirits and creatures that lived in my heart. I was able to explore my darkness and my fears. I learned to relate to them in a way I could manage. Giving monsters and spirits form on paper had them occur

to me as something I could live with. I remember that first drawing as an important turning point in my life. I felt empow- ered and I loved the process of creating something. I knew from that first time I touched pencil to paper that I would spend the rest of my life making art.” The airbrush was intro- duced to David in his teen age years. “When I first bought an airbrush I was still in high school and it was terrible. I had no idea what I was doing. Then in art-school a couple of years later, I watched a friend paint who was a mad genius. This was the first time I saw what the airbrush was for. This was the first time I saw it’s potential as an expressive tool. He was aggressive, loose and natural in his use of it. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36