Biography from Mitchell Brown Fine Art, Inc.:
| Fifty million years ago an iridescent-winged dragonfly alighted, for
the final time in its short life, on a mud flat beside a prehistoric
stream. The mud hardened to stone and one wing remained there,
over the eons. The fossil ended up on David Ballew’s living room
table, the ancient insect’s wing pattern still visible. More
recently, Ballew was walking through the aspens above Santa Fe when the
quality of light through the shimmering leaves made him stop
short. While the moment of exquisite beauty was fresh, he opened
his easel and began to paint.
The artist, who has loved rocks and drawing all his life, sees a link
between the two events. “What’s fascinating is that these are things
that usually last a few hours or a few weeks, and here they are 50 or
100 million years later,” he says. “For me, paintings are fossils too –
they’re the traces left from the interaction of an artist with his
subject.”
Responding to the feeling of awe that stirs at the sight of something
mysterious or even mundanely beautiful, and catching the freshness of
that moment in paint, is what great artists do, Dave Ballew
asserts. Thoughtful and unpretentious, the artist won’t include
himself in that category although his striking, often intimate oil on
canvas landscapes attest to a level of mastery beyond what he may
acknowledge. Instead, Ballew places himself in the position of
perpetual student. An attitude of always being open to learning and
change is necessary, he believes, if one is to unfold one’s potential
as an artist. “I could spend the next 40 years at it and not achieve
anywhere near what I see is possible,” Ballew remarks of his painting.
“A Sufi teacher once said that the purpose of life is like the horizon:
when you reach the point you’ve been aiming for, a whole new vista
opens up.”
Ballew constantly refines his skills through disciplined dedication,
generally spending six days a week at the easel. For small paintings he
works plein-air, aiming for the vitality and authenticity that comes
with being on location. On larger pieces he works in the studio,
but quickly. Otherwise, he notes, the clear energy of the initial
gesture gets bogged down in the reworking of details.
One of the most important things he can learn from other artists, he
believes, is not a formula for putting down paint, but a way of
seeing. His goal is deeper, clearer vision, which he conceives as
the first and most important step toward true artistic
expression. His approach includes humility, study and the
attention focused in the moment of creation. It also means constant
searching, a belief in the importance of process over product, and a
healthy appreciation for the mysterious. “That’s what I’d like to be
doing for the rest of my life – playing with the mystery. And if I’m
hopeful, if I approach it with respect, painting will allow me to do
that.”
*Excerpted from an article by Gussie Fauntleroy. |
Biography from McLarry Fine Art:
| Painter David Ballew was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1955.
He was raised in the East and the Midwest and studied art at Indiana
University. Attracted by the striking landscape and the radiant
light for which New Mexico is renowned, he settled in Santa Fe in
1981. In addition to being surrounded by the terrain he finds
most inspiring, living in Santa Fe has enabled Ballew to interact and
learn with numerous artist he greatly admires, most notably Irby Brown,
Michael Lynch, George Carlson, Ned Jacob and Mark Daily.
Japanese and Chinese art, music and philosophy have greatly influenced
Ballew’s art work on a number of levels. For many years Ballew
has studied a range of spiritual traditions and has practiced
meditation and contemplation. He has applied these disciplines to
his approach to painting, an approach which includes humility, study
and great focus.
Dedicated to his work, Ballew paints six days a week, on his smaller
canvases, he works plein air. Ballew is committed to his role of
the perpetual student and keeps and attitude of openness to learning
and change. He explains, “I could spend the next 40 years at it
and not achieve anywhere near what I see is possible. A Sufi
teacher once said that the purpose of life is like the horizon: when
you reach the point you’ve been aiming for, a whole new vista opens
up.” |
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