My paintings of the world around me reflect my longing to find a sense of peace and shelter. The forest, the transitions of colours in the sky, the quiet watchfulness of deer and of birds, the flow of time and seasons...these are where I often look for refuge. My hope is that these paintings will convey a sense of haven, and that they will be reminders of the peace and the beauty that always surround us when we pause to watch and listen.
– David Grossmann, 2018
In June 2018 Jonathan Cooper, Chelsea, will be holding the first UK solo show of US painter David Grossmann.
The landscapes of David Grossmann are instantly recognisable: a quiet world in which deer and woodland birds calmly cross our field of vision, seemingly undisturbed by the presence of the viewer or artist. It is unsurprising to learn that for this young American painter both nature and art represent a place of peace, beauty, and connection, and a refuge from the fast pace of our increasingly busy lives.
Born in Colorado in 1984, as a two year old child Grossmann moved with his family to Chile, only returning to the USA at the age of fourteen. In these formative years he developed a profound love of nature, and an appreciation of the extreme beauty of his new home’s towering Andes, barren deserts, and fertile valleys. This appreciation was only amplified by his experience of growing up between two cultures and languages, and led him to seek solace in nature, and expression through the visual language of art.
Nature remains a crucial source of inspiration to Grossmann, who feels most at peace and connected with the world when he is outdoors. Depicting forests and mountains, lakes and rich pastureland, Grossmann’s works are informed by his training as a plein air painter, and his continued practise of painting rapidly outdoors in Colorado and the western United States. Returning to the studio, Grossmann develops these observational sketches, combining and layering motifs in a distinctive style that leans towards abstraction, and this meditative process transforms the tranquil scenes that he depicts into an expression of emotion, and an evocative landscape of the mind.
