Self Portrait | 10" X 16" | oil on canvas + silver spoon
David Davenport grew up in a small farming community in eastern North Carolina. He began his art studies at the School of Art, East Carolina University where he received a BFA. David started his professional career as an Art Director in advertising, eventually making his way to NYC to work for Doyle, Dane, Bernbach Advertising Agency, where he won several Addy Awards for his creative work. David received an MFA in Painting from the University of Maryland and was a teacher’s assistant to the noted art historian and painter, Dr. David Driskell. In addition, David was greatly influenced by his painting thesis advisor, acclaimed artist, Anne Truitt.
He was awarded a Skowhegan Painting Scholarship in 1979 and a Yaddo Fellowship Award for painting in 1983. He continued to study painting in numerous independent programs including, Brooklyn Museum School of Art, Art Student League, Vermont Studio School, and the Studio School of New York in Paris.
David works in oils, acrylics, watercolors, and collage. His paintings are greatly influenced by his childhood memories working on and exploring his grandparents’ tobacco farm. David creates paintings both inspired by both his photography and his imagination. His painting process combines both realism and abstraction to capture the atmosphere and essence of a scene to produce what has been described as “the language of landscape.”
David maintains a painting studio in Durham, NC.