David Berkowitz Chicago
- Art Department
David Berkowitz Chicago is a modern naive painter. A native of Aurora, David attended the Art Institute of Chicago but he never got his BFA. Instead he began to immediately pursue his artistic interests. Berkowitz weaves a rich texture of the surreal and mysterious into his highly original flowing style. His detail-intensive works have become widely recognized for their dreamlike ability to transcend the natural states of space and time. His paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world, including the 2012 show at the American National Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. He lives and works in Chicago.
Even as a kid, David was always drawing or painting. His parents have photos of him painting around age three. The coloring books in their house were all blank with the exception of his own drawings on the blank inside covers. After noticing this, his parents started buying him sketchbooks and loose paper to keep him busy. David Berkowitz Chicago loved that! It is something that he has always have gravitated towards and just continued to work at throughout his life. His love of drawing and painting is definitely a part of who he is as a person.
As an artist, David Berkowitz Chicago always tries to find the best of both worlds, balancing traditional art practice and technology. He also draws from art historical references like a classical appreciation for unfinished works. In terms of process, Berkowitz begins with traditional pen and paper sketches, working more from personal experiences rather than life, although he used to make a lot of portrait paintings back in the early days of his career. He also experiments with new advancements and materials. In terms of influences, he's inspired by a lot of classical artists like Philip Guston, Roy Lichtenstein, and Mary Heilmann as well as traditional influences like Leonardo Da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Alex Katz and Elizabeth Murray among others.
In his work, Berkowitz is always providing clues, with each painting telling its own story, and over time these clues add to the larger story. He never fully gives away what each image is about, but they are all a part of the journey. The colorful display of Berkowitz's paintings, reflected as a contemplation of unsatisfactory beauty, an independent theme of the world, is an elements in his paintings that brings him out from others. It's easy to recognize it, to understand it and easy to love it.