Artist’s Statement
My medium is painting in watercolor on paper. The images are taken from ordinary life, visual moments which become significant only by being recorded, moments which would otherwise pass from sight and memory.
The work is an attempt to make sense of the world. It is based on the premise that, with acuity and sensitivity, there is beauty and interest to be found in everything we perceive; the wonder and majesty of the world is latent in every particular part of the world. Every precise object and condition is at once itself and at the same time a vessel of revelation.
The paintings are based on photographs; every painterly decision is determined by a close examination of the photographic surface. There is a particular interest in translating between the visual languages of photography and painting. It has been said, painting interprets, it tends to evoke ideas and memory which already exist. Photography, on the other hand, is an act of capture; it does not evoke ideas or memory, rather, it forms them. This work is an exploration of the threshold between the two visual languages.
Inevitably, what we draw, paint or photograph can never compare to what we see. What is great about art is the impossibility of this attempt at capturing perception. What is endlessly interesting is how unpredictably we fall short of the goal.
David Virgien
Parkstr. 3a
80339, Munich, Germany
Tel: (089) 51 26 22 80
Email: davidvirgien2 at gmail dot com
1954 Born in Oceanside, NY, USA
2003 - present Resident of Munich, Germany
EDUCATION
1976 Bachelor of Arts, Visual Studies, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
PROFESSIONAL AND RELATED EXPERIENCE
2003 - present Free-lance art and English teacher, Munich.
1998-2003 Teaching Artist, Art Education Consultant, L.E.A.P.,
Learning through an Expanded Arts Program, NY, NY.
1996 Visiting Artist, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
1992 Curator, The Comedy of Art, Bumbershoot Arts Festival, Seattle, WA
1990-93 Guest Lecturer, Bellevue Community College, Bellevue, WA
1990 Guest Presenter, Portland State University, Portland, OR
1989 Visiting Artist, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
1989 Panelist, "Photo Derivations", panel discussion, Portland Community College, Portland, OR
1984-85 Instructor, drawing, lithography and screenprinting, City Art Works, Pratt Fine Arts Center, Seattle, WA
1978-80 Freelance Animation Artist, films and television, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2016 Coney Island and Other Pictures, solo show, Michael Heufelder Gallery, Munich
2014 Group Show, Michael Heufelder Gallery, Munich
2011 Moments of Everyday Life, solo show, Werkschau Galerie, Munich
2008, 09, 10 The Last Book/El Ultimo Libro, a traveling group
installation curated by Luis Camnitzer. Museo de la Biblioteca
Nacional, Madrid Spain, La Biblioteca Nacional, Buenos Aires,
Argentina, Zentral Bibliothek, Zurich, Switzerland
2007 New York/Munich, solo show, Werkschau Galerie, Munich
2006 Analog Animation, group show, The Drawing Center, NY, NY
1997 Cablecast, Public Access, Channel 29, Seattle, Videotape, Don't Blink
1996 Northwest Annual, group show, Whatcom County Museum, Bellingham, WA
1995 Cablecast, Public Access, Videotapes: A Life and Mirror
1994 Microsoft Artwalk Group show, Redmond, WA
1993 Window Installation, Frederic & Nelson Building, Seattle, WA
Chairs: Embodied Objects, group show, Western Gallery, WWU, Bellingham, WA
Landscapes with Figures, solo show, Fuel Gallery, Seattle
Summer in the City, group show, AT & T Gateway Tower, Seattle
1992 Group Show, Fuel Gallery, Seattle
Drawings and Paintings, solo show, Fuel Gallery, Seattle
Northwest Annual, group show, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle
1991 Second Annual Juried Art Competition, 4th Prize, Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland, WA
Artists' Choice, group show, Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle
1990 In Transition, group show, The Goodwill Arts Festival, Seattle
1989 Floating Currency: A Parade in Celebration of Money. The Civilization project. Group show, Nine-One-One Contemporary Arts Center, Seattle
Photo Derivations, group show, Northview Gallery, Portland Community College, Portland, OR
1988 Virgien, Webb, Wildermuth, Hundredwaters Gallery, Seattle.
Everyday Objects of Art, group show, Bumbershoot, Seattle
1987 Home Street Home, group show, Nine-One-One Contemporary Arts Center, Seattle
Madonna: Images of Women in Art, Group show, Bumbershoot, Seattle
David Virgien, solo show, Hundredwaters Gallery, Seattle
Artists With Public Voice, group show, Nine-One-One Contemporary Arts Center, Seattle
1985 Art and Advertising, group show, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle
1984 Window Installation, Nine-One-One Contemporary Arts Center, Seattle