BIO
David Maurice grew up in France with a natural affinity for drawing which he pursued and developed, inspired and encouraged by artistic circles from an early age. While studying at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, a transformative experience with fabricated metal sculpture led to a passion for the crafts dealing with metal as a creative medium. Employment in the metal trades began with apprenticeships in sculpture foundries and ornamental ironworks. Later on, when a business opportunity presented itself, he branched out to form an architectural metal company in Brooklyn, NY.
Multi-disciplinary experiences and commissions in diverse fields of metalworking provided commercial and artistic opportunities such as cooperative work with sculptor Louise Bourgeois, designing and prototyping for projects with some well-known architects, in addition to landmark restoration. His forged steel sculpture was on exhibit at Washington Square Windows, the Kouros Gallery in Manhattan, the Jacob Javits center and West Side Pier shows.
STATEMENT
My life as a metal craftsman has paved the way towards an intuitive understanding of the requirements of materials. My experience forging and fabricating metals has shown me the degree of commitment required to endow a sense of harmony and balance to the most unassuming objects, be they natural or man-made. I am in awe of the visual and textural beauty that is the part of so many commonplace forms in nature. A close-up focus on an otherwise banal or amorphous surface reveals the existence of myriad intricate and structured patterns that may result from wear, random events, or processes of weathering and decay. These patterns, seem to answer to a proprietary and uncharted typology of their very own.
Inspired by these observations, I have created an intuitive visual lexicon where textural expression is emphasized through a variety of materials and mediums. Gessoes and acrylic paints interact structurally as layers in my two-dimensional overlays while gypsum casts and patinated surfaces interact to represent a reliquary of otherworldly remnants, or just abstract entities.
WORK DESCRIPTION
Patches of color are laid, overlaid, and stripped selectively to build and reveal planes, creating a sense of depth in Landscapes and Color Fields.
Stripes and lines of varying colors are woven or applied, selectively stripped or overlaid, masking or revealing prior applications, creating a textural sense of varying depths in Grids.
Relics and Fragments exploit the use of gypsum casting to create three-dimensional shapes with textural planes to suggest aesthetic, symbolic, and structural functions.
They could serve as concepts for larger scale sculpture, or exist as small pieces on their own.
Fall Textures is a photographic series with a focus on fallen leaves to show the infinite variety of natural structures and forms visible as plant life decays and skeletonizes, exposing the essence of its structure at the end of its life cycle.