David Pratt
I started creating art when I was a kid, and I continue to go through phases of creation with wild abandon. I see them all being connected and with similar elements, and a similar internal searching, but each phase may appear distinct. Most often, I make visual art with photography, painting, collage, drawing and most recently, digital art - but I sometimes pick up bits of wood and begin to play or find a random object in a thrift store that invites me to alter it.
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Photo collages have been a recent passion, but I am just as happy to make and bake pita bread in our wood-fired oven! I enjoy celebrating the spark I experience when I introduce digital work to earthy, natural pigments like clay paint and India ink. I use my photography, which I sometimes digitally alter and print and then paint and add ink. Sometimes I repeat this process many times. For me, digital art and photography have become a modern variation of frottage, the technique of making rubbings with charcoal, chalk, etc... over textured surfaces. In its own way, this version of frottage creates random textures and patterns. These draw me into a relationship of unexpectedness, surprise and new discoveries that I sometimes liken to work with Rorschach ink blots or the play of cloud-watching. I aim to preserve not knowing in the dynamic towards knowing, obscurity and vagueness in the dynamic dance towards defining recognizable forms - faces, birds, houses... My final pieces end up laden with images that are often not immediately evident to viewers. I am an ongoing student of natural building, using clay plasters, strawbale and cob to sculpt and build structures. I am fascinated to see how to bring materials from these often ancient and functional building techniques into conversation with a laptop, camera, phone and me.
In recent years, I've had 3 solo shows, two at Yoga Central in Canton, Ohio - an artcentric studio aimed at nurturing people from the roots up. (My current show "The Whole in The Part" is now up at YC, and you can find more details here.) Another solo show was at Wild Goose Creative, a gallery in Columbus, Ohio that actively lives its mission to build creative community year-round. This spring, I opened a small gallery in our retreat center (www.truenatureretreat.com) & named that space "Green Tiger." My work is in private collections throughout the U.S. and has just recently begun to find its way to other countries too.
A note on reproductions: I've searched out the highest quality printing I can find. The archival prints you can buy here are the absolute best for depth of color, detail and longevity. Paired with texturally-rich papers, this combination creates vivid colors and extremely high lightfastness. The process produces giclee and photo prints that will last up to 200 years for color and 400 years for black-and-white. I’m especially fond of using sturdy watercolor papers for prints of art. https://www.dxprattartist.com
