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David Martin

My art and writing have been irrevocably affected by my thirty plus years as a stylist and gallery owner in the lovely, and beautifully quirky town of Davis, Ca. It has allowed me the opportunity to meet and occasionally collaborate with many local artists such as ceramicists Deborah Pittman, Donna Billick, and Bunny Jean Cunningham, painters such as Marie-Therese Brown, Andrea Johnston, and Binuta Sudhakaran, as well as dozens of breakout artists through my Studios, Cobalt Salon & Gallery, and All That/Hair Artistry.

Inspired by these wonderful artists and educators, I returned to school to study drafting, landscape design, and fine art. After my first figure drawing class, I decided to focus exclusively on art.

I was greatly Influenced by my painting instructor Gary Pruner, and I tend to focus mainly on bold pieces with hyper-pigmented impasto and some form of abstraction.

Many of my pieces are layered, etched, scratched, splattered, and scraped, resulting in a depth of textures, both bold and subtle color applications and washes, and vague symbols and figures, while others may be only slightly off from realism. My pieces often contain hidden private jokes or secret messages, or even simple humorous/futuristic cityscapes.

My works are not heavily planned in advance, and are usually painted in a stream of consciousness technique using my own photography or imagination for the subject matter; luckily this technique results in unexpected, and sometimes, revealing pieces.