Meet David FeBland

Today we’d like to introduce you to David FeBland.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I began creating imagery in my head long before I began to set it to canvas. I didn’t even think of myself as an artist until I reached my 20’s, and I began to create wholly self-expressive work only as I reached the age of 40. In 1956, I was a 6-year-old child growing up in the gentrified farmland of Southern England when suddenly my family relocated to Coney Island, Brooklyn. My new neighborhood was a lively working-class holiday destination where Freak shows were commonplace, and the people who worked them for a living went about their local errands after hours.

My first explorations in my new country included daily encounters with The Hairy Lady (full mustache & beard), The Leopard Girl (skin half black, half white), The Fat Man (at 400 lbs., a real standout back then rather than today’s next-in-line at McDonalds), Mr. Pinhead (don’t ask) and a supporting cast of dwarfs, simians & fire-breathers. This seminal experience gestated for a long time before I began to express it as art. I spent the next several decades engaging in a variety other life pursuit, but my view of public life was now formed forever. I never really took my eyes off the street again, and l believe that at that early age my interest in human interaction with our physical surroundings was set. However unconsciously, my lifelong determination to cast the world around me as dramatic narrative was established.

Please tell us about your art.
There’s a saying in the art world that if you meet critic on an elevator and she wants to know what you do, you’d better be able to explain it before she gets off on the next floor. That gives you about 8 seconds to summarize your work.

My paintings tell the small story. We travel through life bombarded by information, but we observe little. I describe those unnoticed moments of everyday life and elevate them to subject status. (At this point she walks out the door; now I elaborate a bit to whoever is still in that elevator). Most of the work I do is fiction disguised as fact. The paintings are inventions, often autobiographical, inspired by observations in my own life as I travel, locally or abroad, that depict interactions between people and their physical environment. Since 1981, I ‘ve traveled by bicycle or on foot to more than 60 countries. My work draws upon experiences from that wide range of geographical locations and is driven by a conviction that certain behavioral responses to one’s environment are universal. If one were to step back from a body of my work with a single impression, I’d hope it might be, “Oh; this is how we live”.

Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
I think it is a mistake to spend too much time or effort pondering one’s relevance within the artistic world. Consideration of these matters soon leads us to reach for inclusion in a School or ally with a movement, moving us closer to derivation or appropriation and further from our own artistic truth. I try to ignore the direction of trends, do what feels most artistically honest to me, and then shamelessly promote this work when and wherever I can.

This leads to the other great dilemma: How to promote ones work in a pluralistic world where the gallery system is fading. We are all freelancers in this brave new world, and the era of a single gallery supporting an artist with enough sales or (can you imagine?) a monthly STIPEND, is over. You have to engage across the board today. A good website, active social media, offering workshops if you have the talent for it and, yes, a range of galleries located in different markets who attract critics and are active in art fairs are all part of raising and keeping your profile high. Better yet, hire a gifted SEO hotshot or marry wealth!

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Right now, the closest gallery to Phoenix where my work can be seen is in Santa Fe at Victory Contemporary on Canyon Road. (formerly known as McLarry Modern). My solo exhibition, Beauty, Space & Time, opens there on July 20th and continues through August 5th, they always have an inventory of my work to show visitors.

I’m also represented by several galleries throughout Europe (two in Germany, one in Denmark and one in London) and show in many art fairs throughout the US and internationally. I’m always happy to schedule a visit at my studio on East Campbell in the Cascades apartment complex, and people can contact me via email or through my website to be added to my mailing list for future exhibitions. A full list of recent events, exhibitions and representing galleries is available at www.davidfebland.com

Contact Info:

• Address: 4502 N. 36th Street, Apt 310, Phoenix, AZ
• Website: www.davidfebland.com
• Phone: 9176478841
• Email: dfebland@gmail.com
• Instagram: davidfebland
• Facebook: David FeBland

Image Credit:
Cary Whittier
John Dowd

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