David Park

David Park was one of the pioneer artists of the Bay Area Figurative movement. Dissatisfied with the egocentric attitudes of the Abstract Expressionists, Park abandoned pure abstraction and returned to figuration. Alongside peers Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff, Park translated the energy and use of thick paint and dynamic brushstrokes from Abstract Expressionism to figurative subjects including portraits and still lifes. Park is most known for his paintings of bathers, musicians, and domestic scenes such as Two Bathers (1958), The Jazz Musicians (1954), and Interior (1957). His paintings depicting scenes of everyday life demonstrate an interest in the human experience. His work is in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.