FIGURE/FACE
David Park was always trying to paint a “good head.”* For me a “good head”—or a good figure for that matter—should work well as a compositional element. Likeness doesn’t have to be literal, superficial similarity; I want the painting to be true in a more essential way. I also like figurative painting as a conduit of meaning: for example, in the service of narrative or as a way to share insight about a particular body and the person who inhabits it. “Totem” and “fetish” also come to mind, and I embrace those qualities.
*Helen Park Bigelow, David Park, Painter (Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2015), p. 166.
Blue Nude with Poison Oak No. 2, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24
Masked Nudes, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 32
Masked Nudes (detail), Acrylic on canvas, 40 x 32
Blue Nude with Poison Oak No. 1, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24
Teahouse (Portrait of Gertrude Stein), acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48
Teahouse (Portrait of Gertrude Stein—detail), acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48
Teahouse (Portrait of Gertrude Stein—detail), acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48
The Death and Rebirth of Tango, oil on canvas, 48 x 36
Green and Gold, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 32 (photographed with dimmed track lighting)
Green and Gold (detail), acrylic on canvas, 40 x 32 (photographed with a combination of artificial and natural light)
Figure at Easel, oil on canvas, 24 x 18
Figure in Motorcycle Jacket, oil on canvas, 18 x 22
Reconstruction (Nude on Green Ground), oil on canvas, 26 x 32