David Combs, Cowboy Artist

Throughout the country, the whole world, there are many artists staking their claims, to what exactly, well, that is important to them but not for us; what is important for us is that there is art being made. Whether it is the awe of Michelangelo's restless perfections, the charm of Roy Lichtenstein's anxious portraits, the familiar & sarcastic critiques that are Cindy Sherman's video stills or the dreamy luxuriance of Monet, art has the capacity to stir new thinking, amp the imagination, provide solace & solidarity -- in other words: inspire, breathe life into. And isn't that what art is about? Along with its genuises, art, its own genius, is a vital principle, a guiding spirit, a channel of the grace & intelligence that is human. Art is more than a product but something that is created in that biblical sense we were created in, and so, with the likeness of a god, we have, for better or worse, among other things... art. Art as a manifestation of our humanity deserves more than blank stares, commidification and boredom; it is something that is to be nurtured in every sense (personally, historically, financially, educationally, et al).

A young artist that takes such a notion seriously is David Combs. Currently a resident of the (in)famous Hotel Chelsea in New York City, he may be found in the lobby or on any given city street painting scenes out of everyday life. But this is not everyone's everyday life. Then again, New York City is in many ways the American city and so, in a sense, it is all of ours; to that, Combs has, like many artists before him, offered a new way of looking at & thinking about the city and how we see. In many ways, Combs also represents the archetypical American: industrious, self-taught, resilient, individualist; he first arrived in NYC a few years ago with very little but his person, his talents, paints and ambitions. In love with the taste & wonder of the city's physical histories, he began to paint landmarks & tourist magnets, often spending over eight hours each day for weeks before completing a painting. These paintings reflect not only his character with humor & precision but also offer the viewer a present-day city, thoughtful snapshots through a surrealistic lens at once immediate & oblique.

Like the self-taught musician who listens & masters techniques, songs, even entire genres, in a short time, Combs's masterful painting comes from years of sitting down & just working at it. Such dedicated work to craft while keeping a close watch on history (visual or otherwise) is something woefully lost on the many artists we find in our galleries & studios today; I am not saying they are all bad but they are not all good either. Viewing his work online will give you notice of a personal style that I like to think of as informed sui generis. I say this because it is deceptively clear and may lead one to believe that they may pinpoint his influences & techniques. But this is far from the truth. It is not my place to speculate what all this may be the product of and I dread the word postmodern yet it is the seamless collusion of those fragments of art history's greatest hits that make the paintings of Combs genius. Now, I had said viewing the work will give one notice, even pause; as with any art, there is no substitute for seeing the work in person.

The fine detail such as cracks in individual bricks, freckles on pedestrians, the fluid fixity of clouds, gives each painting a degree of hyper-reality not unlike work by Gerard Richter, Carl Rice Embrey or Chuck Close. This high degree of realism with its deliberate imperfections & calculated effects can also be traced to artists that Combs holds in high regard such as Parmigianino, Jan van Eyck and Vermeer. At the risk of conjuring wrong-headed comparisons, his paintings evoke a brand of magic realism, recalling Dali, Remedios Varo, short story writer & pianist Felisberto Hernandez and M.C. Escher. The abstractions & textures found in Combs' paintings possess many of the best qualities of both the Impressionists and the (Abstract) Expressionists. To return to what makes art great & important, let me draw attention to what I considered the best quality of the paintings: light. Whether it is a fantastic scene, a circle of skyscrapers or within a great hall, light commands a primary role: light as source (of life), as vision, as menace - the sublime. I suspect it was not on purpose because such things seem to come to him naturally. Even with the hours of careful rendering, there is a spontaneity in the movements of objects, a delight in sight, confirming skyscrapers as cathedrals, each painting placing you in the middle of things as if to say, "Here you are! See?"

This melding of intimacy, the sublime, the beautiful, photorealism and surreality is more than we ask any given work of art and to find them contained in the collection of a contemporary working artist is all the more rare & magnificent.

Check out the work of David Combs online. If you are in Manhattan within the next 3 months (1 November MMV - 31 January MMVI), be sure to see his exhibit at the Manhattan Athletic Club (277 Park Avenue @ 48th Street; additional entrance on 48th & Lexington).