David DeSimone- LIVES ON STAGE
Isabel Sampedro & Agustina O’Farrell
David DeSimone celebrates his first solo exhibition in New York City, May 2003,
with fourteen technically innovative paintings. Although he confesses his artwork
is the conventional “oil on canvas,” this approach transcended the
traditional when he discovered the industrial material of Plexiglas. His primary
conceptual twist is the combination of both materials to bracket and accentuate.
The artist, however,
does not pretend to veil the painting under glass, turning it somehow unreal
and artificial. His intention is to emphasize the main subject of the painting,
providing it with a special luminosity that enables color to be accentuated.
In most of his
paintings, the “plasticized” subject is someone close to him captured
in an everyday moment or situation. Urban dwellers can appreciate his portrayals,
for example, of his mother lost in the confusion of New York City, his best friend
taking a break in a bagel shop, or a scene of young boys playing basketball in
the Bronx.
DeSimone’s
images are inspired by daily life, but at the same time, exist as transcendental
expressions of the experience “ideal.” He daydreams of a sunset in
the countryside together with his partner rather than harsh urban settings. Photography
creates escape. His escapist desires, transformed into art, is manifested in
one particular painting in which the overlying glass envelopes a couple, giving
them such a unique luminosity that actually competes with the sunset. He takes
pleasure in blending the industrial and the Renaissance commodities together
in his commentaries on human experiences.
David DeSimone
has a background in the performing arts. He initially pursued acting. This component
of his personal history reflects in his visual creations. He has acknowledged
the subjects on his paintings are like “actors on a stage.” These “plastic
boxes” that cover the subjects not only have an unusual visual effect, they
are used on a symbolic level as the personal sphere that surrounds every human
being. This is the plight of the individual and De Simone’s art serves as
the proscenium.
