Statement

In 1996 I started over. I undertook a series of red paintings using quinacridone, cadmium and oxide pigments. I set a few basic rules for the series in order to distill my understanding of what and why I painted: use color as my only subject; sustain focus of hand, brush and paint as one; abandon reliance on an inherited language of interior relationships (light to dark, thick to thin, or one color against another). This method sustained itself over 14 separate panels which took one year to complete.

The desire for simplicity in my personal life was first reflected in my work in 1992, when I moved to a cabin in Northern New Mexico and returned to drawing using graphite, charcoal, and crayon. These drawings of simple shapes — circles, arcs and bars — became the basis for the Canyon Series.

After this series was complete, I began the monochromes which, only in retrospect, do I see as my arriving at the simplicity I sought through the final release of form and the phenomenological merging of subject and object. Put another way, the painting becomes a subject gazing at the viewer as the viewer gazes at the painting. The space between the painting and the viewer thus becomes energized as the space in which the viewer and the painting interact.

There are a number of ways I naturally make marks. One is similar to writing and, as such, is more rational and determined. I begin at the top left of the canvas with vertical brushstrokes in a horizontal row, then begin at the left again and continue until one layer of the painting is complete. Or I may use a painting knife where the vertical brushstroke is replaced by pulling the paint down the support. This set of work I call the ribbed paintings.

My other dominant way of working comprises the set of work I call the flat paintings. In these paintings the paint is applied in thin glazes, up to as many as 50 layers, with large brushes in even strokes. The final layers are often poured. This way of working is less determined and "irrational."

More often than not, my system of painting is pre-determined. This liberates me from making constant choices or arbitrary interventions and allows me to maintain a single-minded focus on the act of applying paint with brush or knife and, thereby, extend attention over the course of a painting session with a minimum of distraction. This way of working gradually opens me to the experience of a quiet and unhurried mind, a state I hope is reflected in the paintings.

Marfa, Texas
November, 2006

Biography

David Hirschi's monochromatic paintings have been called 'quiet abstractions' by New American Paintings. A self-taught artist, Hirschi has spent the last decade simplifying his paintings. His most recent body of work, oil and wax on wood, is a distillation of his investigations into color and the repetition of a single stroke.

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Hirschi moved to San Francisco in 1974 after graduating from the University of Utah where he received a BA in creative writing and art history. He relocated to northern New Mexico in 1991 where his work was exhibited at several local galleries and at the Center for Contemporary Arts, all in Santa Fe. His work has also been shown in Arizona, California, Colorado and Texas.

In 2003 he was instrumental in the creation of the First Thursdays program of monthly artist lectures at the Santa Fe Art Institute, which he curated until 2005. Since 1999 he has participated in the biannual fundraiser for SITE Santa Fe, SITE Unseen.

In the fall of 2006, Hirschi established his studio in Marfa, Texas, where he now lives.