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About the Artist David Rudd is a native Texan residing in the West Texas town of Odessa. He is a self-taught painter who developed his style during his teenage years of the late 60's - early 70's; when "mind-expansion" was the big new thing. The desert of West Texas was no exception, that's for sure! There were plenty of psychedelic goings-on out in the West Texas desert. During the 70's, David took to hanging out at the local college art labs, enrolling in the painting classes repeatedly & just generally hanging out most of the time. There he had the room neccessary to construct & paint larger canvases, until he was able to establish a home studio a few years later, where he still resides to this day. David has, over the last 30+ years, basically painted for his own pleasure, and hasn't shown his work outside the west Texas area, except on rare occasion. He has developed & refined his style, progressing thru a variety of series works. During the 70's, he concentrated on an extensive geometric series which, sadly, has only minor representation here. The 80's brought on the sporadic "drippy" series and a general period of non-productivity. Most of the artistic energies of this time were focused on the punk/no-wave band "Research" in which David was the lead vocalist. Then, thru the 90's, David has concentrated on his "rock star" series, and then more recently, the "Psycho-Medical" series; with a few unclassified experiments cropping up from time to time. We are continually working at improving the Ruddart Galleries to better represent the work of David as it has evolved over the last few decades. Dave's work is unique and extreme, sometimes passing the boundaries of unusual and crossing over into realms unknown. His choice of subjects are outstanding and different, aimed at productions that will force the human mind to gaze into his creative paintings with wonder and delight. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Rudd sits in his living room and discusses his paintings as
well as two new books that feature his works Thursday at his home on
12th Street in Odessa. Five of Rudd’s paintings are featured in two new
books, ‘Beatles Art’ and ‘Marilyn in Art.’ Drive to create fuels Odessa artist
By Ruth Friedberg
David Rudd has that drive to create – whether in art or music. He does hand-brushed acrylic work that viewers would swear is
airbrushed. His subjects are medical art, rock stars or in one instance,
a man dressed in a gas mask and business suit derived from a 30-year-old
set of encyclopedias.
“I guess I’ve always been interested in art and music as long as I
can remember,” Rudd said.
The 49-year-old Fort Worth native said he moved from drawing to painting
when he was 16 or 17 and has been tickling the bristles ever since.
He’s done two or three oil paintings, but acrylic is his favorite.
Images derived from medical reference books are among his favorite
subjects. His medical art series, he said, is “some of the most original work I’ve done. They’re just kind of puzzling.” His rock star series, as Rudd calls it, includes the Beatles, PJ Harvey, Frank Zappa, David Thomas, part of a band called Pere Ubu and Sparks, a band since the 70s. Rudd said he has quite a few paintings at Proteus, an Odessa hair salon,
and Everywhair, another salon in Midland.
He also has his work posted on the Internet and has sold several
paintings through his site. Through his site, Rudd said he’s formed a
worldwide fan base.
It takes Rudd an average of 40 hours to finish a painting, although some
take 25 or even 100 hours, depending on how much work is involved.
“I’ve got to have it all drawn out in pencil exactly the way it
needs to be,” Rudd said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact: David Rudd
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