DAVID  SHARPE

It is with great pleasure that the Carl Hammer gallery presents its first solo exhibition of new paintings by internationally acclaimed artist David Sharpe.  Mr. Sharpe is no stranger to Chicago.  A graduate school standout at the School of the Art Institute, Chicago, his artwork has been a familiar part of the Chicago exhibition landscape since 1968.  He was, up until recently, a mainstay in the stable of artists from the venerable Sonia Zaks Gallery.  We are privileged, now, to continue representing his work to the greater Chicago and vicinity area.  In the latest of a long list of achievements, Mr. Sharpe was awarded The American Academy of Arts and Letters 2006 annual purchase award for The Universe, a recent painting by the artist.

 A prolific painter, David Sharpe’s consistency is marked not only by its quality, but of his willingness to explore beyond the perceived limitations of his range.  Recently, his production of work provides us a greater insight to the painting process with much more visible drawing present, an integrated exposure of the layering of the paintings themselves.  The process is much more immediate, not as a stream-of-consciousness, but certainly very direct in terms of approach. 

 The Landscape, more prevalent in his paintings years ago, is reintroduced by Sharpe in this newest work.  Though there is still an active involvement with figuration as well, this new engagement with issues, like natural phenomenon, is saying something personal and new about the artist as well.  “We all know what a sunset looks like, but a work of art can redefine for us the way we look at nature or can help us to define any personal experience whether it be perceived or felt.  I like it when I look at a sunset and say to myself – there is a Joseph Yoakum sunset or mountain, or perhaps it reminds me of a Van Gogh,” quotes the artist.  Or perhaps it is, in part, a reaction to the immense amount of work which is so media based.  “So much art today relies on magazines, computer, or TV.  Things can get very sterile very quickly when all you respond to is the corporate world.  It is much more challenging for me to take the commonplace as my subject than to appropriate the bizarre and serve it up as invention.”

 The inventiveness and insightfulness of David Sharpe’s paintings truly bring us back to a contemplative re-inspection of that which surrounds us every day.  More importantly, they also take us to the new places in our private worlds of self-discovery