Art

Dave Lebow

Favorite material to work with?
I like to work in oil on canvas.

What themes do you pursue?
Right now I’m interested in interpreting Grimm’s Fairy tales, many of them are really dark. I recently explored images of Demons, Devils and Angels.

How many years as an artist?
I’ve been an artist pretty much my entire life, professionally about 37 years.

Where is your studio?
My studio is a converted garage at my house in southern California.

Art school or self-taught?
I studied in art schools and I still take workshops from time to time and hope I am continually learning and improving.

Prefer to work with music or in silence?
I like to paint to music, mostly rock and roll.

Where can we find you outside the studio?
Hanging out with my wonderful wife, daughter and our new dog.

If you couldn’t be an artist, what would you do?
I don’t think I could live without painting. I’d probably really get in a lot of trouble if I couldn’t paint.

Day job?
Besides selling paintings, I teach life drawing at Cal Arts in the Character Animation department.

What do you collect?
Besides art books which I have an addiction to, I collect weird objects, taxidermy, and bizarre insects. Things that might inspire a future picture.

Favorite contemporary artist?
I really admire the works of Gregg Manchess and James Gurney.

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?
“The Raft of the Medusa” by Theodore Gericault.

Use anything other than paint?
I draw in charcoal and sometimes use sculpey and other modeling medias to create quick macquettess and miniatures for reference.

Is painting dead?
Quite the contrary, Realistic painting is on the upswing. We seem to be in a realist revival now. It’s very exciting!

Favorite brush?
I like Filberts and Flats.

Palette knifes?
I use them for cleaning my palette and mixing color.

Monet or Manet?
I like both of these artists but if I had to choose just one it would be Manet!