Bio

I was born in 1967 in Chicago and grew up in Crystal Lake, Illinois. My father emigrated from Palestine and worked as a biochemist, inventor, and business owner. My mom was from a rural mining town in Appalachian Kentucky and worked as an exporter to the Middle East. After high school, I moved to L.A. and later back to Chicago where I got my BFA from the Illinois Institute of Art and then studied at the School of Representational Art. I have taught art and painting at the Highland Park Fine Arts Center and privately for more than ten years. I’ve also worked as an architectural renderer and as a set painter for films. I live in Chicago with my wife, a writer, and our two daughters.

Influences

My father has an academic background in biochemistry but growing up, he loved art and painted constantly. Even though his style (Abstract Expressionist landscape) wasn’t close to mine, it was inspiring to see him work, and it definitely planted the idea that anyone could create art and that   art (and the process of creating it) was valuable. My artistic influences, to name a few, include Pietro Annigoni, Odd Nerdrum, Rembrandt, Isabel Bishop, Velasquez, Carvaggio, and Stephen Assael.

Current Direction

My works are large figurative paintings--either life size or slightly smaller than life. The majority of the paintings are single figures with minimalist landscapes. Many explore themes of fertility and infertility (usually represented by a pear).

My interests and/or goals as they relate to art include

•Painting life size figures that often represent a non-human object/phenomenon (cancer, the invention of fertilizer)

1. •Experimenting with ways in which to represent the figure, specifically through printmaking and sculpture.
   

2. •Analyzing and discussing my own processes and work with others on themes of medical intervention, disability, bodily function/dysfunction
   

Classes And Contact

David Abed offers independent and group instruction for drawing and painting at his Chicago studio. For more information, call 773.732.5426 or email david@davidabed.com.