SUMMIT, NJ - David French was diagnosed with cancer in 2000, and today is cancer free. The England-born French's artwork now gives a visual impact to the themes of recovery and healing via Numerators, an exhibition of paintings currently on view in the Bouras Gallery at Overlook Medical Center through November 10.
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"I made these paintings in order to make sense of certain things that occurred and I wish to occur. I made these works in order to try and come to terms with the unknown," said French.
French says, "I use oil paint because of its fluid, fleshy quality not unlike the body. The painting surface is a skin its illusory depth a body and space. I use metallic paints in my Numerator series where I consider chemotherapy, and the platinum based drug I received for treatment. This notion of a metallic poison as life saver and remedy, interests me. The paintings become a location for healing and meditation. They were produced by a process of removal and subtraction. I dripped solvent on wet paint. This action symbolizes both the destructive and productive quality found in chemotherapy. By dripping solvent across the surface it registers both the uncontrolled and my actions and agency in making the painting, as well as in the effort involved in healing. I create new cells, spaces and dimensions by wiping the surface clean.”
French lives and works in New Jersey, and has been exhibiting artwork professionally since 1987. He pursued his love of visual art at Carnegie-Mellon University and Vermont College of Fine Art, and further mentored with D.C. based Color-field artist Sam Gilliam and New York City artist / writer Mira Schor. In 1990, French presented his first solo exhibition in Chicago.
He continues to show his work in museums and galleries across the country, and received a purchase award in 2013 from the Noyes Museum to install a public sculpture on view at the Atlantic City Waterfront Sculpture Walk. French has exhibited at the Rawls, Monmouth, and Noyes Museums He has also exhibited at SOHO20Gallery, G.R.N’Namdi Gallery and Greenpoint Gallery in New York City.
For more information on the artist, and to see additional artwork, visit davidfrenchfineart.com.
The exhibition is available to the public 24 hours a day, seven day a week. The Bouras Art Gallery, located inside Bouras Auditorium at Overlook Medical Center, is located at 99 Beauvoir Avenue.