Don't Make Down the New Black Painting

Through the language of art, David Krilov is a modern abstract expressionist artist influenced by unleashing the healing power of water. Many of us find ourselves exhausted, burned out, struggling to catch a break or rest for our lives. We need a recharge. Water and art can help. ​ Neuroscientists say spending time near oceans, lakes, rivers and other blue bodies of water can provide a range of benefits including reducing anxiety, easing mental fatigue and re-energizing us. Bodies of water, whether it be the ocean, lake, fountain, rain, a sprinkler, or even a painting that connotes water, can produce a glorious sense of awe. This awe is the emotional response to something vast that expands and challenges how we see the world, and awe can decrease stress and help us put things into perspective. Researchers have shown that water gives our brain a break from the intense, focused attention that much of daily life requires and that can be cognitively depleting. ​ Often, Dave’s abstract art can imaginatively denote water that provides that sense of rest, peace, and awe. His art reflects the properties of water, that are dynamic as it moves in a rhythmic way, producing a play of light, color and sound that is mesmerizing. It can hold our attention. Ultimately, David’s desire is for the viewer to experience his paintings with their own subjective experience and life story through the healing power of water. ​ To this end, he uses a couple of techniques and styles that all reflect the nature and properties of water. He stains and pushes paint into the canvas, creating spaces, edges, and gestures that are used with layer over layer of paint in a fluid and water-like manner. He flares out paint one over another, erasing through burns, layering veils of stains, as well as allowing fluid paint to take a life on its own… just like water to provide a refreshing sense of rest for the soul. ​ In addition to abstract expressionist paintings that are influenced by water, some of his work combines abstract expressionism with a more modern form of medium: street art stenciling and spray. Often, these paintings are social commentaries on our modern life and times: the juxtaposition between disorder and rest. Yet, they provide a striking beauty that exists between the balance of reality and hope, and the underlaying power of water that can provide a way forward toward that equation.