Bringing a secluded and tranquil perspective to public streets and cityscapes, David Culp soothes a contemporary clamor of accessibility with melodic arrangement. His composition of shapes and hues seems to isolate and defuse any distant stirrings of municipal concern and looming involvement with a pronounced accent upon the charm of content.
A Los Angeles resident with a BA in psychology from Whittier College, Culp works towards an inward harmony through his landscapes and townscapes. His work has exhibited at the La Quinta Arts Festival; the Beverley Hills Affair in the Gardens show; Ariel Gallery of New York City and elsewhere.
"VISIONS OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS"
February 2 - February 27, 2007
Aristostle stated: "Art takes nature as its model," and in the landscape paintings of California artist David Culp, viewers are invited to marvel at nature's elegant and timeless beauty. Bringing an oasis of serenity and tranquil perspective to the chaos of the cityscape, the harmonic acrylic-on-paper works of Mr. Culp provides us with a soothing visual antidote to the frenzy of our urban woes. Recognized as a poet-painter, David Culp's luminescent compositions showcase the charm of the local environment, isolating it from the contemporary claims of the urban street. Mr. Culp states: "These paintings, with their strength and serenity, contrast greatly with our disorderly world."
Traveling on his bicycle, Mr. Culp photographs intriguing locales which become the source of inspiration for his paintings of townscapes and cityscapes. Mr. Culp uses nature as his model and a delicate poetic infusion is synthesized between nature and his subject, like a poet expressing a compassionate tenderness for the beauty hidden in the ordinary. These landscapes offer a new visual respect for patterned stucco walls, grid iron gates and quaint street lamps. Through the gentle paintbrush of a poet, Mr. Culp encourages us to delight in rustic lanes, rows of architecturally significant buildings, grimy chimney tops, majestic church steeples and dark windows. Imbuing each scene with a spirit of freedom, even the most insignificant scene is metamorphosed into a subject matter of sublime value and profound beauty. In addition, his prismatic palette employs a vast array of resplendent colors, which aid in shining the spotlight on these splendid scenes. Achieving an emotional balance and a harmony that few of us ever attain, this poet-painter guides us out of chaos and into the supreme state of mind - enlightenment.
Mr. Culp has exhibited in New York and California. He has been reviewed in the "Encyclopedia of Living Artists in America" and "American Artists: Signatures and Monograms 1800 to 1989."
“N-LIGHTENED N-COUNTERS”
March 14 – April 7, 2009
“One’s destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things,” once said the American novelist Henry Miller. Working from photographs taken while traveling through the European countryside by bicycle, contemporary artist David Culp creates striking paintings of European towns and villages with rich brushstrokes and impasto. Mr. Culp’s modern yet thoroughly emotional style harmoniously captures town scenes and poetically expresses the sensory aspects of those locales. Houses, shops, chateaux and cathedrals seem to dance off the paper, rendered in a perspective subtly reminiscent of the Cubists. Quiet streets and wiry trees lend a solemn tranquility to these locales.
Mr. Culp’s use of quiet, gray backgrounds punctuated by brighter colors in the foreground gives his paintings a whimsically moody quality which some might say is reminiscent of the work of artist Wayne Thiebaud. His townscapes and cityscapes depict a world of serenity and peace where municipal concerns recede into the background, where only the overcast sky hints at the possibility of tension or worry. The interplay between blocks of color and neutral tones create scenes of playful contrast and visual harmony. Mr. Culp’s masterful manipulation of perspective and thrilling application of color transform his images from scenes of daily village life to poetic masterpieces.
David Culp has exhibited extensively in New York and Los Angeles. He was listed in the 1987 edition of the Encyclopedia of Living Artists in America and was reviewed in American Artists: Signatures and Monograms 1800 to 1989 and New Art International Volume VIII, 2002. Amsterdam Whitney Gallery is pleased to represent this acclaimed and accomplished artist.
