Cover | David Park
Woman with Baby (Gouache on paper, 1960, 14 x 11 inches; private collection; photo courtesy of Hackett | Mill, representative of the Estate of David Park) The importance of David Park as an artist and influential teacher in the Bay Area can be seen in the development of Bay Area Figurative Art. The flourishing legacy of Park is spotlighted by the Richmond Art Center in the current exhibition, David Park: Personal Perspectives and in a companion exhibition, The Human Spirit: Contemporary Figuration as an Expression of Humanism. Looking to the small and intimate works on paper, a dedication to relationships and nature can be viewed through Park’s unique perspective: up close, direct, and bold elements of shape and color. The painting in gouache, Woman with Baby, captures the observer. Arms in a connecting circle, hands holding firm in a circling pattern, the woman and baby are held firmly in a gaze of tenderness and intimacy, secure in a mutual embrace. These works from the 1930s through 1960, the year of Park’s death, are on view at the Richmond Art Center through May 22. www.RichmondArtCenter.org.
NEXT MONTH: June signals the approach of the lazy, sometimes crazy, days of summer. To get into the swing of summer, dive into the The Monthly‘s summer literary issue with essays on the theme, “A moment of betrayal.” Meanwhile, Ethan Fletcher goes vegan and vegetarian for a Repast roundup, and Reese Erlich takes his column, From the Left Side of the Balcony, to Oliveto for socially responsible wine tasting and judging with Narsai David, Tonya Pitts, and Debbie Zachareas.