'Organic Abstract' by David R. A. Watson, 2022, Santa Cruz, University of California, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

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Signed lower right, 'D. R. A. Watson' for David R. A. Watson (American, born 1950) and painted in 2022.

"Born … Read more Signed lower right, 'D. R. A. Watson' for David R. A. Watson (American, born 1950) and painted in 2022.

"Born in Southern California, I was first introduced to the world of art by my father, John Watson. Having drawn and painted from an early age, college art courses seemed trivial to me. Drawn to the beauty of Santa Barbara, I moved there to make lamps in the style of L.C. Tiffany and decided to follow art as a profession. In 1973, I moved to Boulder, Colorado and founded Sundance Leather Guild, designing and crafting airbrushed leatherware. The realization that manufacturing was not art arose after five years of fashion airbrushing in Hollywood, California. Seeking to learn more about the materials of art, I attended the University of California at Riverside, studying with John Twilley, Conservation Scientist at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. These studies led to an increasing focus on the identification and analysis of the minerals which comprise those raw materials that I use in my paints.

In 2017, I enrolled in the University of California at Santa Cruz, where I studied landscape and figural painting under Peter Loftus and Noah Buchanan, receiving my BA degrees in Studio Art and Art History in 2021. My Santa Cruz exhibitions have included 'The Last Art Show at the River Street Gallery' (2005), a solo show that reviewed four decades of my work. In 2007, my panoramic oil, 'The Old Santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk', was exhibited at the Museum of Art and History."

- With thanks to the artist See less