Thursday 18 January 2018

Nothing Held Back, David Park

David Park, 'Four Men', oil on canvas, 1957

Happy New Year!

I’ve recently finished a book, ‘Nothing Held Back’, about painter David Park, who was a leading figure of the 1950’s to 1960’s San Francisco Bay Area School of Painting alongside Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff, who were close friends of his until Park’s death at the early age of 49. The book was written by his daughter, Helen Park Bigelow, and so tells the tale from her perspective as a young child growing up and living with her artist father, which is what attracted me to buying it in the first place, as, until now, I was unfamiliar with Park’s work, but had also previously enjoyed ‘Night Studio: a memoir of Philip Guston’, which was a gripping and compelling read, again written by the artist’s daughter, Meyer Musa. I would highly recommend that particular book.
David Park, 'Kids on Bikes', oil on canvas, 1950-51
Anyway, through reading it and closely observing the reproductions of the paintings, which admittedly I was not originally that interested in, apart from the beach scenes and the bikers in the street,  I’ve really grown to appreciate Park’s work and what he achieved during his short life, particularly during his last ten years, where he really seemed to break down the barriers between abstraction and figuration in a really quite authoritative way. The paintings owe a lot to the techniques of the Abstract Expressionists, which were still the dominant artistic force of the day, with Clyfford Still in California being very influential. Park manages to create something classical and monumental with the figure and reach something of the spirituality and universality those Ab Ex artists were striving for but through a different route through his return to the figure. 
David Park, 'Women', oil on canvas, 1958
He had been very serious about abstraction for a number of years before famously one afternoon he and his wife decided to load up the car and take all of his abstract paintings to the city dump to dispose of them. A great idea and no doubt a cathartic experience. (I’m currently have a clear out too and think the dump beckons although my wife would like a bonfire…!). On making this radical decision Park stated, "I was concerned with big abstract ideals like vitality, energy, profundity, warmth. They became my gods. They still are … but I realize that those paintings practically never, even vaguely, approximated any achievement of my aims."    
Richard Diebenkorn, 'Girl Looking At Landscape', oil on canvas, 1957
Park’s work has a warmth and emotional pull, with much less emphasis on ‘style’ that is appealing in contrast to the more coolly intellectual Diebenkorn figurative paintings, and the urbane paintings of Alex Katz on New York’s East Coast, who was making similar inroads at the time, although I must state that I love both of these artists paintings more in the end.
David Park, 'Head', ink on paper, 1959
The book is sad too as it tells of Park’s slow death from cancer at the young age of 49, not long after his work is finally being exhibited and recognised in a major New York gallery show. It is a disease that develops from severe and constant back pains to his entire body being attacked by tumours that render Park physically broken and wasting away over a protracted period, yet he still continues to paint a series of remarkable ‘heads’ and scenes with the aid of his friends Diebenkorn and Bischoff getting him set up in his living room on some sort of platform with paints and table until his body can take no more. It’s heartbreaking stuff, yet offers an insight, although it’s almost inexplicable, about how the urge to paint can be so all consuming and compelling even in such circumstances.



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