New Dawn Fades Print

Born in Tulsa, OK. From an early age, David was driven to create, always drawing and painting on things-including the walls of his childhood home for which he was often in trouble. During grade school and middle school, David attended an after-school program, where he studied drawing and painting under the direction of Ross Meyer 1989-1994. He also attended a instructional art program at Johnson's Atelier, a summer arts collective (1988-1992). While attending Fred Jones Jr. University, David studied under Julie Green, David Hissey and Dr. Andrew Phelan to name a few. One of his college highlights was a seminar course with Joe Andoe, a prominent Oklahoma artist from Tulsa, now living in New York. During his time at Fred Jones, Kurtz, was highlighted amongst his peers in several exhibitions, including two end of year shows at the Fred Jones Jr Museum of Modern Art and the Lightwell gallery, which was often reserved for visiting artists. After graduation in 2001, David moved to Denver, CO, where he turned art into music performance with live painting shows, concerts, drum performance, art/music showcases and non-traditional exhibitions. His involvement in the Denver Music scene lead him to form Bocumast Records, releasing over 50 albums from local and national acts during its historical time on earth. During his time in Denver, Kurtz also started Rilla Creative, an art gallery/creative space and design firm. The space would have group shows every 6-8 weeks, which always kicked off with a massive event featuring live music and more. In 2013, Kurtz moved to San Francisco, California to pursue a career in design, photography and art. It is here that he met Ben Goorin of Goorin Bros hats. He worked there as senior marketing art director for a few years before moving on to work as Senior Marketing Designer for Flickr/SmugMug. When he isn't creating. David enjoys photo walks (you can see some of his photo work at or in some of his collage work) throughout the city, and exploring the weird side of CA.