Dave Newman

I am a self-taught artist. I was born in 1956 in Long Beach, CA and grew up in Anaheim, CA.  My first exposure to art was when I started a screen printing business that I had for eleven years with my wife Donna.  It was at this time I became interested in the Pop artists of the 60’s, especially Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.  I started reading art books, visiting galleries and going to museum shows.  I realized at the age of 32 that I wanted to become an artist.  Well, it’s 27 years later and with lots of sweat, tears and paint mixed in, I’m a full time working artist. We started selling my work by doing juried fine art shows all over the West.  That lasted about 11 years and we stopped doing them about ten years ago.  We opened our own gallery in Prescott, Arizona in 2001.

I call my mixed media work “Painted Collage Constructions” and I also do acrylic paintings. I incorporate my own photos taken on our travels mostly in the Southwest and mix old photos, postcards, maps, wallpaper and anything that looks interesting to me. I love the texture of old metal and wood pieces and also include these in my works.

My work is represented by numerous galleries and I work closely with the Custom Shop at Fender USA, painting custom guitars.  About a quarter of my time is taken up by commission work for corporate clients and personal pieces for private collectors and the rest of my time is used for experimenting with new processes, making inventory for my galleries and traveling to find new photo opportunities and material for my work.

My philosophy on art is to work everyday I can, continue reading about other artists, past and present and to keep a very open mind about just about everything. I am always very thankful to make a living from my art and enjoy my time in my studio.