^{Born 1959 in Monterey California, I was the second of three children. I have a half-sister 4 years older and a half-brother 18 months younger.  I was raised in Seaside California, a neighbor city to Monterey. My mother, who was a civilian secretary for the Army, married my stepfather when I was 9 months old.  My stepfather, after serving in the Marine Corps, built houses in the Seaside area.}

I was an introverted child and from a very early age would often doodle and draw cartoons.  I had fun making things out of driftwood and scraps from my stepfathers' house projects.  At home my artistic interests received little support as a possible career.  In my family of midwestern, traditional, blue-collar workers, being an artist was not a viable profession, merely a hobby.

Not until 1983 at age 24, working part time at Wells Fargo Bank, did I begin in earnest to pursue art as a profession by entering the Academy of Art College of San Francisco's Illustration program.  Prior to  enrolling at the Academy of Art I had taken art classes at Oklahoma State University and Monterey Peninsula Collage, but always as a minor focus.

Two years into the illustration program an important event occurred for me, I took a color class with teacher, Larry Robinson, who introduced me to the world of painting with acrylics.  With acrylics, I found their brilliant color and quick drying aspect exciting. For the remainder of my time at art school acrylics were my medium of choice. When I graduated in 1987 I had begun to develop a colorful graphic style somewhat in the realm of Wayne Thiebauds' paintings.

After graduation, work at Wells Fargo Bank became full time.  Working more, I was unable to keep up with the short deadlines of illustration work.  Not willing to let pursuit of the all-mighty dollar defeat my artistic side, I made a decision to stop illustration work and instead, paint for myself.  I found it difficult to paint without art direction, which I typically received in doing illustration work.  My early paintings were difficult for me and often inconsistent in style.

      

In 1988, another important event occurred for me.  I went to Norway, London and The Netherlands.  I visited the Edvard Munch Museum in Oslo and the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Seeing the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gaugian, Jan Vermeer, Cezanne, and Edvard Munch impacted my painting style for years to come.  As a result many of my paintings from that time period were of colorful landscapes with trees shaped similar to those in Edvard Munchs' paintings.

In 1991, the next big development in my artistic growth occurred.  Through Wells Fargo Bank I applied for and was granted a paid 3 month time off "Personal Growth Leave" to further my painting skills.  In those 3 months my goal was to further my education in painting at the Art Students League in Manhattan and then to travel around California painting landscapes.

I switched apartments with a friend, Tim Bower, an illustrator living in SOHO Manhattan and enrolled at the Art Students League.  For 5 weeks, I took two painting classes and one drawing class.  One of the painting teachers, Harvey Dinnerstein, showed me how to make the transition from acrylic to oil painting, which continues to be my medium to this day.  So foreign to my life in California, staying in Manhatten created a lasting passion for the energy and sights and smells of that city.  In 1991, looking at the brownstone across the street, I did my first "Urban" painting from the window of Tim Bower's SOHO apartment.

Upon my return to California I spent the next 2 months traveling around San Francisco and Monterey County painting landscapes.  I developed a rhythm of starting the painting on site, taking photographs and finishing the paintings in the studio. The first paintings were rough to create, but became easier with each new painting.

Much of the subject matter for my paintings since 1991 has come from the buildings in Manhattan, San Francisco and my hometown of Seaside.  Though I have painted people, I find more pleasure in painting scenes void of them.  I often find the real or implied history of buildings, interior compositions, tables and chairs seductive and am excited by their color, angles and tangents.  I strive with my paintings to convey to the viewer a sense of history and virtue, combined with a somber inviting quality.

Various artists have inspired me since that trip to Europe in 1988. The Henri Matisse and Edward Hopper retrospectives in Manhattan and the John Register retrospective in San Jose California impacted me greatly in my painting compositions and color use.  In recent years some of my urban scenes of Manhattan and San Francisco have evoked associations to works of Edward Hopper and John Register.

David Fink 2008