I graduated from the University of Washington with a B.F.A. in Printmaking in 1994. I studied lithography, silkscreen and wood block printing, as well as etching. My college work was an exploration of the human form, flattened, abstracted, and placed in various dreamlike social scenes. While in college, I worked for our school's newspaper as an editorial cartoonist. Shortly after graduating, I moved to Los Angeles. My paintings at the time were a response to some of the more obvious trappings of LA; the celebrity culture and obsession with vanity. My party style of painting came as a response and can be seen on the "social" page. Whether it's three women all wearing the same outfit as in "Same Dress," or a cluster of celebrities all with Jennifer Aniston's signature hair style in "Friend's Haircut," I painted what I saw and felt. This look is still a way I currently paint.

After dozens of that style of paintings, I revisited the work I made in college. This time instead of etchings or silkscreens, I painted directly on canvas, furthering the direction of my prints. I suspended figures in colored squares. They are forming, develping, and emerging from their backgrounds, which is a theme I'm exploring in my present work. I carved linoleum stamps, a nod to my printmaking days, to build up interesting surfaces as well as giving additional imagery. I liked the way the squares looked on their own so I made a series of paintings exploring the divisions of color, the layering of stamped imagery, and additional texture. During this time I began painting murals in homes and businesses as well as getting commissioned to do pieces.

In 1999 I moved to New York where I lived for two years. I worked for several advertising agencies doing illustrations, storyboards, and artwork. I also continued my mural work in offices and private residences as well as doing more commissioned pieces. I continued the themes of the party style, the figures in squares, and the squares with the divisions of color.

I moved back to Los Angeles in 2001 and now divide my time illustrating, creating my own artwork, and continuing with murals in homes and businesses. My latest paintings have faces and body parts made from self hardening clay, attached to panels, painted in acrylic, and coated in resin. Most have been steel wooled to a satin finish. They can be seen in the "Panels" section. This work further explores the human figure. The bodies are discovered in pieces, incomplete, so there is a sense of loss but a gratitude for what persists. The figures emerge three-dimensionally. Are they from our past or our future? I think of them as new myths. As my work evolves and grows I incorporate elements of my past styles in with new methods and techniques. What's next? Not sure, but I am looking forward to it.

Please check back as I will be updating my site often, and contact me if you have an interest in a painting, or an inquiry about a mural project. Thank you.

- David P. Gilmore