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David Polka
Artist Statement
My work involves a utilization
of stylistic and technical aspects pulled from my
graffiti background to create figurative abstractions
on found wood panels. I'm trying to explore different
facets of the human experience using pared-down composition
and relaxed, melancholy color schemes. Hopefully these
place the viewer in a reflective state that encourages
them to draw their own conclusions and interpretations
of the work. I draw inspiration from a wide variety
of sources, including illuminated manuscripts, anime,
ex-voto paintings, Asian religious art, and the detritus
of my environment. These works are my attempt to realize
an ideal suggested by Baudelaire in his essay "The
Salon of 1845": "The true painter will be
the man who extracts from present-day life its epic
aspects and teaches us in line and colors to understand
how great and poetic we are in our patent-leather
shoes and our neckties."
I am trying to attain
this veneration of the mundane by creating an environment
that maps out my experiences and emotions as they
are occurring. However, I deliberately avoid any distinctly
specific references or cues to events or people. Instead,
these maps are left vaguely open-ended, as I am just
as interested in someone else's experience with the
painting as my own. Some of the most profound realizations
I've had about my work have been prompted by another
person's interpretation.
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Artist Bio
I was born in Las Cruces
in 1985, and spent the first seventeen years of my
life getting into trouble and drawing on things. I
was raised in a liberally artsy household, as both
my parents attended art school and encouraged me to
express myself creatively. I took extracurricular
art classes from the time I was six years old until
my freshman year of high school. During my sophomore
year at Mayfield High School, I began taking art with
Raul Dorn, a phenomenal teacher and incredibly talented
artist who would become something of a mentor for
me. Around this time I quit skateboarding, my main
endeavor of the past four years, in favor of writing
graffiti. This became my main artistic interest for
a couple of years, until I became aware of the work
of Jean-Michel Basquiat. I began painting on canvas
and wood panels in crude appropriations of his work
until Mr. Dorn showed me how to develop and embrace
my own style. I am currently a junior at the University
of New Mexico, pursuing a BFA in Art Studio, and,
coincidentally, still getting in trouble and drawing
on things.
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