Inventive Colors Print

David Spence Biography David Spence was born in West Virginia but grew up in Virginia where as a child he played with clay and made figures and drawings of the human anatomy. After High school, he entered the U.S.C.G but could not step away from his true passion, Art. At the age of 19, Soon after leaving the military, David moved to New York City to finally pursue his artistic talents. The numerous hours spent in museums and galleries, were concentrated on the shapes, line and mass of sculptures and paintings of great masters. Aiming for the highest quality is certainly an important part of what David learned during these studies. David moved from NYC back to his hometown of Virginia, continuing his work of sculpture in wood and stone. It wasn't until David moved to Houston, Texas that he begin working with Bronze . At the age of 37, he moved to Italy and set up his studio in the mountains of Tuscany where he sculpted wood and the local clays. A year later, David moved to Mexico and opened his own art foundry in the northern city of Monterrey, realizing that carving in wood and stone was not enough the requirement for presentation of his work became paramount and all his wood and stone were mounted to Bronze and other mediums. In 2012 David accidentally discovered mounting his wood to bronze for wall mounting sculptures. In 2013, after 30 years, David returned to watercolor painting again. His subject matter became obvious; He painted the very shapes that are represented and dominant his wood sculptures to his watercolor works. David feels he’s come full circle and is excited about new gallery shows where he’ll take advantage of the walls as well as the floor for both his paintings and floor and hanging sculptures. Artist Statement I study wood over a period of time before any carving begins, allowing the wood itself to lead the way. It’s grain, it’s texture and the general feel of its structure should always be respected at all cost. I make no attempts to force shapes, but rather, shapes tend to somehow surface in a kind of magical way that I’ve never fully understood. When I carve, it’s as if I’m in a kind of trance, I have no clue how or why certain things happen, they just do, as if Art somehow has a life of it’s own. In some respects, I view wood as a boiled egg, in that, once all of its shell parts have fallen away or been removed, its life begins.