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Image of If Trees Could Whistle

David Airhart

American, b. 1953

If Trees Could Whistle
2003

Acrylic on board, hand-built frame with level
16.5 x 34.5 x 1.25 in.
Gift of Driek and Michael Zirinsky
2020.3.1

Using international, national or even local and personal events as inspiration, David Airhart creates narratives dense with symbolism. Airhart’s figures are often contemplative, reflecting his own reaction to events or situations within the piece. By leaving the work open to interpretation, as in If Trees Could Whistle, Airhart allows the viewer to complete the meaning.

With no preconception of how the art will turn out, Airhart fills the canvas with colorful shapes and markings. He then begins to decipher the different shapes by relying on subtle markings of his own making to create figures, faces and gestures. “As I develop the figure or figures, they become players in a narrative influenced by current events.”

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