Paradiso’s Fall Opening. Artist Reception-March 9th

So you do a show, and of course you hope that somehow the planets will align. That people come and like what they see. That your work will connect with the visitors, and hopefully make a few sales, cover your costs, and if it all falls short of your hopes, then you’ve still done the graft at the end of the day, because the doing is ultimately the reason for the season.

Except, after years of accepting your lot-when it goes beyond that, when your hopes are surpassed , it can be every bit as paralyzing as disappointment. Which is why it’s taken me over a week to to say that I’m feeling flabbergasted-humbled-incredibly blessed.  The friends, the visitors, the collectors, my fellow artists, the curators Jeremy Schott and Jeremy Cross, my wife Lani…my mad gratitude.

You can see previews of the show Here
Paradiso’s Fall closes at The Dark Art Emporium- March 30th.

 

 

With Vincent Castiglia

With Evgenia Golik

With Tatomir Pitariu and Bill Shafer of Hyaena

With Chet Zar

 

With Lani

Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Interview

“So Paradiso’s Fall came to represent that dark desire that is innate within us all. That the correlation as an artist to change our external reality, to deconstruct so to represent our interior world, extends beyond the canvas, throughout mankind as a very fundamental human function.”
Speaking to Beautiful Bizarre.

And I mean, how splendid is this? In which I talk a little about my process for the series, dark art, living and working in Julian and future plans. There’s also a small preview of some of the pieces.

READ THE INTERVIEW HERE

I have to say, the publicity surrounding this show has completely bowled me over. After a decade of unveiling shows in a vacuum of seeming indifference, it’s been like a revelation. I am beside myself with gratitude. Thank you BB, Bella Harris, and Jeremy’s Schott and Cross of Dark Art Emporium. Just Stellar.

Two more nerve wracked sleeps before showtime, and all will be revealed.

Paradiso’s Fall-Trailer 2

Another little video feature, in which I talk about death and the art of living. Just some of the motivation for the piece “Whats Dark Within, Illuminate” for the show Paradiso’s Fall, this Saturday at Dark Art Emporium

Paradiso’s Fall First Trailer

Here’s something really cool-an epic teaser for the main event, something to whet the appetite.

Which is why I am delighted and honored by the stellar promotional video, that Dark Art Emporium has put together for my forthcoming show.

Concise, informative, beautifully edited, cuts to heart of my intentions, and best of all, I only appear in it handful of time over the four or so minutes.
But check out the art for Paradiso’s Fall, which I am immensely proud of.

A big thank you to both curators Jeremy Schott and Jeremy Cross.

Paradiso Poster

Coming soon, to a select gallery in Long Beach…


“Following directly on from my previous series (‘Pergatorium’), “Paradiso’s Fall” utilizes elements from Milton’s classic work, and the corruption of Eden as a mythological set piece for my own autumn of years, the fall of man, and the prevailing dark age we live in. Through this series of paintings that are ill omens to the end times, the work is a meditation on mans appetite for self destruction, against the dichotomy of the ‘artist’s’ creative predisposition to deconstruct.”

-David Van Gough

“The thing I most love about David Van Goughs work is his use of symbols. Each paintings is a smorgasbord of images and all of them have a highly intentional and elegant part to play in the story he is telling. From the twisted, Bosch like creatures to the weather in the sky beyond. It all relates, like a fantastic jigsaw puzzle that has no corners, we are left with the joyful duty of finding how each defines the next until the underlying meaning, or at least how we perceive it, finds its way into view. But what keeps us digging is the skill with which each piece of that puzzle is created. The man can paint.”

– Jeremy Cross
Assistant Director – The Dark Art Emporium

And I mean how effing cool is the poster?

The piece he’s chosen to promote the series is called ‘Origins of a Black Hole”, and the ex designer in me, must admit to gritting my teeth through some designs submitted for past shows I’ve been involved with.
Lest we forget the aesthetic horrors of the now defunct gallery that promoted my show using brush script.
It’s to the Assistant Director Jeremy Cross‘s credit however, that he’s taken one of my pieces and complimented it perfectly. Thank you Jeremy.

Jeremy himself is a wonderful outlier artist by the way, I implore you to check out his darkly idiosyncratic works.
http://jeremycross.bigcartel.com/

Sugar Buzz

Back after a bout of dreadful lurgy following my holiday sabbatical home. Home by turns wasn't so sad, but magic,idyllic- all the Raymond Briggsesque, warm family hearth of brewing parochial Englishness I could hope for. 

So here I am, mid January 2019, sequestered in the studio once more,frantically staring down the barrel with less than the final two months to go before the opening. Lumee!!  No more did that reality descend like a vampires teeth, than when opening the pages of the latest Hi Fructose magazine, and this rather lovely snippet confronted me. 

It's a big deal, an honor and very welcome first as things go. Thank you HF and Dark Art Emporium, a much needed sugar buzz, that other high energy drinks fail to.

Still two more pieces to go, so no time to lose before showtime.

Paradiso's Fall

Though it may seem a little premature, best laid plans being what they are, I thought I would let you all know where a majority of my focus is going to be for the next fourteen months.

Following on from 2014’s show Purgatorium -I am honored to announce that  Paradiso’s Fall, will be debuting at The Dark Art Emporium in Long Beach, March 2019.

Though it may seem a ways off, experience has shown me that if time waits for no one, then it accelerates at light speed in the studio.

Over time, I’ll be posting works in progress, possibly even video peaks throughout the next twelve months, so I hope you’ll continue to follow me as I take another excursion down the rarebit hole.

As always the support and encouragement you provide sustains me like a manna, so my indelible thanks.