Bio

I believe in what Cezanne said…
The eye must dictate the path a painting takes, not the mind.
Painting is about optics, what the eye thinks.
If I get in the way of the painting, the painting is lost.

Born on April 22, 1950 in Miami Florida, David Farrell is a painter of consummate skill. He is among a small group of artists who strive to understand and render the illusive effect that light has on what we see. As a painter he focuses on the infinite variety and diversity displayed through nature's richness of color, the sensations of color in light and shade. His is a visual conception using the logic of color to search for truth in nature.

Growing up adjacent to Sarasota Florida, a community known for its artists and art museum, Farrell's early exposure to old masters, as well as tutelage by local artists established his foundation in drawing and painting. After studying art at Georgia State, Florida State University, and The Maryland Art Institute, he began to look for a way to expand his knowledge. This led him to study under two renowned artists and teachers.

Sculptor, Leslie Posey and painter, Henry Hensche would change the way Farrell viewed his work and life as one within continuing tradition. "Knowledge has been passed down from master to student since the golden age under the Greeks. I wanted to study under a master who respected and continued that knowledge in art. Leslie Posey emphasized symphonic rhythms and harmonies that flow through structural form. Henry Hensche devoted most of his life to developing a method of teaching painters to grow visually in understanding light keys and color masses, creating this illusion of reality on canvas."

David Farrell chose to both paint and sculpt, developing a sensitivity to color coupled with an awareness of volume and structure. Through knowledge of form and an understanding of nature's colors, Farrell interprets the harmonies of the natural world. To paint and record the colors that are unique to a particular light situation, whether landscape, figure, or still life is his main focus and his passion.

For the past 25 years Farrell has remained true to that passion and a student of light. His home in rural New Mexico, rich in the tradition of the Taos painters who came before him and endowed with a climate sympathetic to painting year round, has provided a setting where his art can flourish. Constantly touched by the quality of light, Farrell's paintings embrace the essence of the landscape, as well as the fragile uniqueness of objects big and small. Proximity to Mexico with its rich native cultures, has had a growing influence on his images and sculptural forms. David Farrell's work can be found in collections throughout the United States and Europe.