DAVID SLIVKA
David Slivka was one of the foremost members of the American Abstract Expressionist movement, and was highly regarded as both a painter and a sculptor. Often drawing inspiration from natural forms and phenomena, he worked in countless media, ranging from ink, crayon, pencil and water color, to wax, rope, clay, granite, marble, bronze, and wood. Many of his paintings featured abstract landscapes lit by bold color and spare composition.
Born in Chicago in 1914, he studied at The Art Institute of Chicago.
During World War II, he worked on Naval vessels as a ship fitter, welding huge steel plates together, and as ship’s carpenter on various vessels and troop ships in the Atlantic and Pacific. After the war, David moved to New York City, and was an early member of The Artists’ Club in Greenwich Village. During this time, David befriended the legendary poet Dylan Thomas, who was also living in New York. After Thomas' untimely death at the age of 39 in 1953, David was asked to make a death mask before the poet’s body was returned to his native Wales. "As a sculptor, I knew the beauty of that head," David recalled. From the mask, David later cast five life-size bronze busts. Two of the busts of are in the United States, at the Unterberg Poetry Center of the 92nd Street Y in New York, and at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Three are in Wales: at the National Museum of Wales and the headquarters of BBC Wales, both in Cardiff, and at the Dylan Thomas Center in Swansea, the poet’s hometown.
During the 50's, David moved to The Springs on Long Island. Soon after, he created a series of rapid ink paintings that became highly acclaimed. In the 1970s, he continued his work in ink, producing a series of large abstract paintings, characterized by elegant curved lines--some in vibrant colors and others in black and white. Several of these works were sold to the New York Port Authority, although some were destroyed in the Twin Towers bombing on 9/11.
David died on March 28, 2010, at the age of 95.
David's work is showing at Keyes Art, East Hampton, NY; and has also been exhibited at the following venues, among many others: The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Baltimore Museum, Baltimore, MD; Rutgers University, Camden, NJ; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; and The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, Wales.
