Artist Bio:
David Gothard is a graduate of Pratt Institute, where he now teaches Drawing classes in the Fine Arts Department. He has been a regular contributor to major national and international publications. His clients include The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, International Herald Tribune, and Time magazine.
David has exhibited his sculptured books at The Nathan Cummings Foundation and Center for the Book Arts (New York). His works have toured internationally and are in the permanent collection of the Skillman Library at Lafayette College. He has also created a series of children’s books for HarperCollins.
David is on faculty at Pratt Institute (Undergraduate), Penn State University and The New York Academy of Art (Graduate). He works from his studio in the woods in Pennsylvania.
Artist Statement:
Although I am not always conscious during the process, of the duality in my work, there is a consistent pairing of honor and pathos in the images I create. In this way, the viewer is caught in a trap initially lured by the comedy and then bitten by the tragedy that is revealed upon a more thoughtful look. That;s that I am for, a provoking sting.
I am always looking to make a visceral connection with the viewer. I believe that the intuitive process of picture making begins as an emotional experience that then becomes intellectual; feel it first, then think about it. This approach has served me when through a myriad of subject and topics.
It was in pursuit of good drawing that my artistic career began, and it remains the driving force in my work some forty years later. My approach to drawing has shifted and changed through the years, to the point now, where I feel confident that it had evolved into the most effective form to communicate my messages.
