DAVID PALMERWALKABOUT (TALKABOUT)

WILLIAM TURNER GALLERY

BERGAMOT STATION ARTS CENTER2525 MICHIGAN AVE., E-1 SANTA MONICA, CA 90404

P 310-453-0909 F 310-453-0908www.williamturnergallery.com

DAVID PALMER: A FOREST OF SIGNS

With so many contemporary inheritors of Pop Art choosing to consign themselves uncritically to vernacular modalities, it comes as something of a shock to behold artwork that embraces the vernacular without becoming part of it. Maintaining the same contemplative near-distance that the original Pop artists did from the formal idioms and referential motifs of our everyday lives, David Palmer allows himself to muse upon the condition(s) of informational dissonance and overload that have only multiplied, exponentially, since Pop’s heyday and – perhaps defiantly – to compose visual coherencies out of those myriad idioms and motifs. Indeed, Palmer straddles not only the (dotted) line between the known and the invented, but the one between the visual and the conceptual – between what Duchamp called the “retinal” and what the artists (and theorists) he influenced call the “signal.” The pleasures are those of the spectacle, but the spectacle jazzes both eyeball and cerebrum.

truly universal ideograms, Palmer weaves a cacophony of shapes around and through this central shape – not all of them silhouettes, but all of them refined into a simplicity adequate for blending them into a greater whole. The shapes that envelope and penetrate the walking everyman come from the same parallel world of para-linguistic signifiers as the “man” itself. And in his non-“Walkabout” paintings (and in painting-like jigsaw assemblages the artist has fabricated out of linoleum)

In his latest series, “Walkabout,” Palmer makes his approach that much more graspable. He relies as his conceptual touchstone on a cipher readily recognizable to anyone who spends much time on urban streets. The stylized, faceless figuroid frozen into a position of determined forward motion – nominally male, but genderless by usage – bespeaks the presence of the pedestrian amidst automobile traffic, cautioning traffic to provide right of way or beckoning to actual humans waiting to cross the street. Palmer plants this cipher – a meme for us and for himself – in the center of each painting, satisfying the egoistic need of all viewers to orient the world around us. Thus implicitly privileging our gaze with one of contemporary civilization’s

Palmer allows these forms their own turn as protagonists. Elephants, plants, the head of Abraham Lincoln, speech balloons from comic strips, decorative pinwheels and wavy lines and arabesques, all these images cluster and clamor, overlap and interweave into a visual approximation of the informational din that now enmeshes our daily lives, actually and virtually. Palmer’s message may lie in what he says about contemporary life being info-fraught (and, by inference, substance-deficient). But his artistry lies in how he makes such info-intensiveness seem to make sense. Almost unable to help himself, Palmer – not so long ago a figure painter adept at conjuring a sunny, suburban sort of surrealism, a kind of Twilight-Zone Edward Hopper – needs to render his elements lucidly and compose them elegantly. Would that all the undigested knowledge and banal information that buzzes through Palmer’s pictures actually buzzed through our lives with such grace and articulation! But we have become inured to the babble that engulfs us; the younger we are, in fact, the more we are able to surf our sea of signals – and the more dependent we are on that sea to bear us along. By clarifying that sea, by separating it, however temporarily and artificially, into its myriad components, Palmer re-focuses us on the sum of its parts and makes us that much more acutely aware of its ubiquitous presence and spectacular chaos. In making all that seem so attractive and exhilarating, of course, Palmer sends mixed messages; we cannot with any certainty read his work as condemnatory. But he is not simply exploiting our addiction, either; like Rosenquist, Lichtenstein, and others over the past half-century who have painted the visual racket of a consumer society, Palmer manifests not so much a love-hate relationship with the modern condition of image assault as an awe at its immensity and the thoroughness of its presence in our consciousness. If you can’t beat it, David Palmer muses, read it; after all, you’ve already joined it.

Peter FrankApril 2011Los Angeles

Walkabout (#2), 2010, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 48” x 48”

Scale, 2010, acrylic and ink on wood, 48” x 60”

Aqaba (Detail)Walkabout (#1), 2010, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 48” x 48”

Aqaba (Detail) You Are Here, 2010, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 70” x 92”

LOL, 2011, linoleum on wood, 24” x 36”

Talkabout (#1), 2010, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 46” x 60”

Walk (#4), 2011, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 70” x 46”

Elephant, 2011, acrylic and mixed media on canvas 70” x 92”

Luna Palpitation, acrylic on panel, 46 x 90

Walkabout (#2), 2010, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 70” x 46”

Walk (#3), 2011, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 70” x 46”

Traverse (Detail) Walkabout (#1), 2010, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 70” x 46”

Walk (#5), 2011, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 70” x 46”

Walk (#6), 2011, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 70” x 46”

Walk (#7), 2011, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 70” x 46”

Little Walk (#2), 2011, linoleum on wood, 17” x 12”

Little Walk (#1), 2011, linoleum on wood, 17” x 12”

Like, 2011, linoleum on wood, 36” x 36”

Samurai, 2009, linoleum and vinyl on wood, 48” x 36”

Oxygen, 2010, acrylic and ink on wood, 48” x 60”

DAVID PALMER

born: 1955, Syracuse, NY

lives and works in Los Angeles

EDUCATION

MFA, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1987. Painting

BA, University of Florida, Gainesville, 1977. Painting

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2011 “walkabout (talkabout),” William Turner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2007 “forever almost falling,” William Turner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2004 “The Flatlands Series,” Gannon Gallery, Bismarck State College, Bismarck, ND

2003 “flatlands,” William Turner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2001 “American Dreams; Paintings by David Palmer,” Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT

“American Dreams,” Littman Gallery, Portland State University, Portland, OR

“David Palmer; Paintings,” Museum of the Southwest, Midland, TX

1993 “David Palmer, Paintings and Drawings,” Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1990 “Life on the Edge of the Continent,” Angels Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro, CA

1987 “Between Fiction and Memory: Pictures of a Lost Summer,” Student Union Gallery, University of

Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

“Paintings by David Palmer,” Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY

1986 “My Summer Vacation,” Wheeler Gallery, Amherst, MA

SELECTED TWO-PERSON and THREE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2005 “Pattern and Practice; William Tunberg, Ned Evans and David Palmer”

William Turner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, three-person

2004 “David Palmer and Marina Day,” Lantana, Los Angeles, CA, two-person

2001 Grants Pass Museum of Art, Grants Pass, OR, two-person

2000 Mt. San Jacinto College, San Jacinto, CA, three-person

1989 Schwartz Cierlak Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, two-person

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2007 “Themes and Variations,”, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA. curator: Kristina Newhouse

2006 Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield, CA

2005 “Line and Color,” Mount Saint Mary’s College, Los Angeles, CA. curator: Irina Costache

2003 “The Human Revealed,” West Valley Art Museum, Surprise, AZ

William Turner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2002 “People in Context,” Maude Kerns Art Center, Eugene, OR

“Recent Acquisitions,” Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT

2001 “Autumn Group Show,” Strategic Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA

“Mini Treasures,” Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT, invitational

“Winter Exhibition,” Strategic Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA

2000 “Autobiography,” Appleton Art Center, Appleton, WI

1999 “Moving Towards the Millenium,” Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, Barnsdall Art Park, Los

Angeles, CA

1998 “Vessels for the Journey,” Angels Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro, CA

1996 “Statements ‘96,” Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1994 “New Directions ‘94,” Barrett House Galleries, Poughkeepsie, NY

1992 Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Sales and Rental Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

“New Views,” Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1991 “Wallworks,” L.A. Artcore, Los Angeles, CA

Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1990 “L.A.C.E. 5th Annuale,” Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA. curator:

James Luna

“Realism; A Contemporary Dialogue,” Soco Gallery, Napa, CA

1989 “Macro/Micro,” Helio Galleries, NYC

Schwartz Cierlak Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

1988 “Wallworks,” L.A. Artcore, Los Angeles, CA

“National Small Works Exhibition,”Schoharie County Arts Council, Cobleskill, NY

Worcester Medical Center, Worcester, MA

1987 “Gala Gallery Exhibition,” Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY

Maris Gallery, Westfield State College, Westfield, MA

1986 “50th Annual Midyear Exhibition,” Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH

“American Art Students,” Bogota and Medellin, Colombia

Hampden Gallery, Amherst, MA

1985 “Six at the Midway,” Student Union Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

1984 Hampden Gallery, Amherst, MA

AWARDS and HONORS

Residency. 18th Street Arts Complex, Santa Monica, CA. 2004-2007

Residency. The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH. March-April 1993

Finalist. Los Angeles County Museum of Art Portfolio Calendar Competition. 1991

Corporate Collectors Project. Western States Arts Federation. 1990

WILLIAM TURNER GALLERY

BERGAMOT STATION ARTS CENTER2525 MICHIGAN AVE., E-1 SANTA MONICA, CA 90404

P 310-453-0909 F 310-453-0908www.williamturnergallery.com

Honorarium. Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA. 1990

Artist’s Grant. Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, Brooklyn, NY. 1989-1990

Top Award Winner. National Small Works Exhibition, Schoharie County Arts Council, Cobleskill, NY. 1988

Teaching Assistantship. University of Massachusetts, Amherst. 1984-1987

ARTICLES ,REVIEWS, REPRODUCTIONS

Beautyman, Mairi. “Update.” Interior Design (NYC), March 2003, p.30, colorTemple, Georgia. “Dreams Inspire Artist’s Work.” Midland Reporter-Telegram (Midland, TX), October 7, 2001, Arts & Entertainment (section F), pp. 1&3, colorThe Oregonian (Portland, OR). June 1, 2001, Arts & Entertainment. p.28, colorWillamette Week (Portland, OR), June 20, 2001, p.68, color“Two New Exhibits; Livezey, Palmer Open Exhibits at Holter.” The Independent Record (Helena, MT), January 5, 2001, Your Time section, cover and pp. 6-7, colorChronogram (New Paltz, NY). Front cover, color. January 2001, March 1999, July 1997, June 1996, May 1995 Knaff, Devorah L. “Not What They Appear to be at First Glance.” Press-Enterprise (Hemet-San Jacinto, CA), November 13, 2000, pp.A7 & A9 Cheryl Laridaen. “Autobiography.” Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI), June 4, 2000, p.7Fox Cities Magazine (Appleton, WI), June 2000, p.9, colorThe Journal, The Ohio State University, Department of English (Columbus, OH). Front cover, color. Autumn 1999“Continuum.” Omni Magazine (NYC). June 1992, p.78, colorCohn, Terri. Artweek (San Francisco, CA). April 29, 1989, p.7Lummis, Suzanne. “The Art Juror’s Verdict Is In.” Downtown News (Los Angeles, CA). Dec. 26,1988, p.12Churchill Wright, Peg. Schenectady Gazette (Schenectady, NY). May 19, 1988Russell, Gloria. “Westfield Exhibit Reflects Intense Personal Feelings.” The Sunday Republican (Springfield, MA) April 12, 1987Ruhl, Steven. “Remembrance of Things Past.” Amherst Bulletin (Amherst, MA). September 24, 1986, pp.17-18Lipton, Leah. “Jovenes Pintores Estadounidenses.” Magazine Dominical (Bogota, Colombia). March 1986, color