By Bonnie Gangelhoff
David Cheifetz, Daybreak, oil, 11 x 14.
ART EDUCATION: An atelier program at Schuler School of Fine Arts, Baltimore, MD.
STYLE: I like to have my paintings structural and precise but at the same time loose. I like how you can create focus in a painting by making the center of interest tight, and then you can get loose as you get more peripheral because those other things aren’t as important.
MOST INTERESTING THING ABOUT THE WAY YOU WORK: I like to paint alla prima style, so I don’t necessarily put down a detailed underpainting. I just lay down thick paint from the beginning.
SECOND-CHOICE CAREER: Comic-book illustrator and writer.
BEST ADVICE RECEIVED: From Ann Schuler [founder of Schuler School of Fine Art] and her daughter and grandsons, who are now running the school. They always say, “Darker darks, lighter lights, and paint with paint.” And they also say, “It’s the starts that count”—meaning that you make more progress and learn more if you begin more paintings.
CREATIVE SPARK: Seeing paintings I admire. Also, the more I make myself sit down and paint, the more inspiration comes by itself.
ONE THING MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU: I am an obsessed fan of mixed martial arts. Somehow the courage of those athletes inspires me to persevere in my art. Like every day is a new war at the easel. Admittedly, what they do is much harder than what I do.
FUTURE GOALS: To make a living creating art.
PRICE RANGE: $250 to $3,300.
REPRESENTATION: Carmen’s Gallery, Solomons, MD; Roby King Galleries, Bainbridge Island, WA; Schuler School of Fine Arts, Baltimore, MD; www.davidcheifetz.com.
Featured in our annual “21 Under 31” issue in September 2010