Artist David Bowers and his beautiful, but cruel truth of life
American artist David Michael Bowers calls his style "realism with a sharp edge". In fact, his works could be attributed to surrealism, but the author, as you know, knows better. Bowers ' paintings are filled with irony and sometimes malicious satire – the artist deftly and ruthlessly dissects human vices and dresses them in wonderful canvases.
David Michael Bowers was born in the small town of Chambers Berg, Pennsylvania, USA, in 1956. Fine art attracted him from childhood and, after finishing school, the young man immediately went to study at the Pittsburgh School of Painting. After graduating in 1979, David began working in various studios in Pittsburgh as an artist and illustrator.
Bowers quickly established himself as a true professional and an undoubted talent, so he was offered to teach painting at the Pittsburgh Art Institute. The artist's lectures were very popular with students, among whom there were people much older than the teacher.
But Bowers did not plan to stay at the university – he wanted to grow and create. In 1991, the artist moved to New York – the capital of the US arts, where it was much easier to realize oneself. David quickly became a sought-after illustrator and gained experience working in well-known studios in the Big Apple.
Bowers ' works have illustrated more than a hundred books, and his paintings have decorated the covers of such publications as "Cigar Aficionado", "TIME". He was entrusted with the most serious work, for example, a portrait of Morgan and a family portrait of the Rothschilds for magazines with millions of copies.
Despite the enormous workload, Bowers always finds time to develop and hone his technique. In interviews, he often says that he is inspired by paintings of old Dutch people painted in the 17th century. But the artist does not follow the lead of the past, copying techniques and styles. David Bowers has created two new methods of applying paints in layers, called "Alla Prima" and "glazing".
The influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting is clearly visible in the paintings of the master, but the subjects of his works are modern and even topical. There are a lot of hidden, almost Masonic symbols and barely noticeable hints in the paintings, which makes them even more interesting.
The human subconscious, dreams and association are topics that Bowers often refers to, but his most popular paintings are caricatures that ridicule the modern world with its greed, superficiality and falsehood.
If Bowers ' paintings seemed strange to you, then the works of the Vietnamese artist Nguyen Xuanhui are completely shocking. No master in the world writes in this style.
Keywords: North America | Paintings | Exhibition | Satire | Surrealism | Irony | Illustrator