Art Festival at Mercato Jan. 30 – 31

The Art Festival at Mercato in late January will feature the work of nationally acclaimed artist David E. Gordon.
David Gordon has been working exclusively as a fine artist since his graduation from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he received a B.F.A. in Painting & Printmaking. During the late 1990s, David was a personal studio assistant for the world-renowned artist Helen Frankenthaler.
The creative process for David is varied and yet finite. He has his boards and canvas, paint, and solitude that all stimulates him. For David painting is a private, intimate and passionate obsession. He feels blessed to have time to create a piece of art that someone else can enjoy. The mind is not always at peace and the body is not always at rest and yet when he paints the soul wills itself to transcend.
To put shape and form to sunshine, flowers and trees with liquid color and bristle. What a magnificent release from the tides of time where the mind reassigns thoughts and creativity emerges.
Everything that is gathered from years of effort and result, some good and some not so good, is crucial to the process of his creations. The rhythm of rising and falling are essential to the flow of his art. How will this piece look, the next…; a question always asked and usually answered. He is not the one to judge, though, the universe will. Why does he paint? This question can only be answered with “I just know that I have to.”
We all have our work and we all have our play. David’s inner strength and vision comes from having both simultaneously.
Since graduating in 1982 from VCU, he has worked exclusively as a fine artist, developing a market for his work throughout the United States and abroad. He became something of a pioneer in contemporary serigraphy and, after more than 15 years of hand-printing, he turned his attention to painting. After exploring silk screen ink as a paint medium, he began to include acrylic, ink washes, oils, pastels and pencils to his repertoire. His passion for his craft helps him to stay creative, enthusiastic and energized so that he can hopefully be responsive to new ideas and challenges.
Technically, David was trained both as a painter and a printer, and as such, he has sought to combine the influences of each. When the properties of a painting and graphic are combined, there is an instantaneous and striking contrast. Simplified lines and planes are combined with dramatic gesture of color and free form to give each piece its special visual power. He relies on imagination for the most part. He may use a reference such as wildflowers, but his work becomes personal interpretations of these images, not scientifically accurate copies. If he can capture the feeling that transcends from an image, the feeling will ultimately last longer than the image itself.
David E. Gordon will be displaying and selling his work at The Art Festival at Mercato on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 30 and 31 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. alongside dozens of the nation’s finest artists.
The Mercato Shops are located at 9123 Strada Place in Naples. Call 239-293-9448 for info.
For more about the festival, visit www.boulderbrook.net.