I came to San Francisco this weekend for a few reasons, but mostly to speak with art director and gallery owner, Justin Giarla of Shooting Gallery, Gallery 3 and White Walls. (We also came for the White Walls curated Stussy party in Haight Ashbury neighbourhood – see my review and photos here).

Basically, he reviewed my newest paintings, albeit in an incomplete stage, (!!! which frustrated me cause i wanted Justin to see the pieces finished and I had sent him the works in progress and not the final paintings !!!) and his advice to help me grow as an artist was as follows (please note I am paraphrasing and also including my interpretation):

“David, you are going to make it. I can see that. You will be a successful artist. You need to relax and spend more time on each painting. It is not a race! You have very strong concepts and I like your ideas for your artwork and the meaning and significance you incorporate into each piece, however I believe you should spend more time on each painting and add greater detail to each element of your painting and also perhaps add more elements to each painting as well. So perhaps whenever you get to the point that you think your painting is complete, put it aside, start on the next one, and then come back to it for further detailing, shading, blending, and adding more elements. Additionally, with regard to mounting the paper on gatorboard, recognize that this limits what can be done with the artwork down the road. Think about mounting the paper on wood boards instead (but this is personal preference and if you have a custom frame to match the painting then dont worry about it).“

Now this is probably the best critique an artist could ask for. If a gallery as prestigious as Shooting Gallery tells me that my concepts are great, that my technique is good, but I gotta spend more time and detail on each piece – well bring it on! I can do that and I am excited to go back to Denver this afternoon and implement his advice.

Additionally, he said that by the time you show a body of work, all the pieces in the series should be consistently awesome and at the best level able – as opposed to a show in which the audience can view the progression of the artist by looking at the pieces in order from beginning to end. This is also great advice – however in my personal case this is going to be hard to incorporate into my shows mainly because I am learning so much so quickly and growing as an artist so quickly that my work improves greatly from painting to painting.

It’s obvious I am still learning, but wow having had such a great talk with Justin has made me very much motivated to send him some good artwork.

Thank you Justin for talking with me, and thank you Justin for partying with me and Jess at the Stussy event last night. You curated a wicked show with some funny cats. Check out the interviews and photography at Stussy here.