Daniel David Headbones Commentary

The Drawers - Daniel David Commentary written by Julie Oakes

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Narrative?

There is a classical form of drawing that brings to mind all that is wondrous about the discipline. It occurs when depiction, invention, inspiration and subject matter coalesce at that point where a simple pencil meets with the paper and transcendence takes place. The humble materials are lifted from their physical earthbound corporeality to become magic. The uninitiated exclaim. The brotherhood of drawers become silent, satisfied once again for they are nourished by the show of excellence and the empathetic moment is relished. This is the result of Daniel David's drawings.

There is wholesomeness in his work even when the subject is unusual. The figures look healthy so that what they are doing (a beautiful woman licking a bed post, or Marilyn Monroe raising an arm beside a bowl of berries) despite the sexual connotations appears normal. They have the look of contentment that comes from having led balanced lives so that the captured moment with it's implications of eroticism are understandable. Even the banana, that when peeled shows up as a penis, is a healthy specimen, fatly colored, shining and proud.

Daniel David uses a light paper that accepts the color with unblemished lucidity. The application of the paint or the pencil is not always completely finished so that we are left in the realm of technique rather than crossing over to be fooled by illusionism. Even when the drawing is complete, there is something missing and after searching for that mysterious disconnect, it leaps out - modernity. The subjects are slightly old fashioned. They still believe in something just as Daniel David believes in classical drawing.

With a renaissance hand, romantic subject matter, surrealist juxtaposition of elements and the clean, critical, aloof, presentation of a detached ironist, Daniel David can be called a true postmodernist. He liberally borrows from the ages and returns a converted contemporary sensual slant with psychological innuendos. The only diversion from this categorization is the focus for unlike the dissipation of repetitive imagery and blanket compositions of the postmodern format. Daniel David's work specifically addresses, and in turn coaxes, the viewer to contemplate a specific situation. The narrative is Daniel David's own, with his personal codification of symbolism luring us into his world, revealing while obfuscating.