ART IN THE ARTHOUSE is delighted to welcome artist DAVID PALMER and his mouthwatering new show, RetroPop. The show will run at the Royal till November 2019. Sales benefit the Laemmle Foundation and its support of humanitarian and environmental causes in Los Angeles.

About the Exhibit
As a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the late 80s, pop artist DAVID PALMER drew inspiration from his mentors JOHN ROY and GREGORY GILLESPIE. Between Roy’s analytical rigor and Gillespie’s wildly improvisational methods, Palmer unearthed an exploratory approach to image-making that evokes dreams and memories, literature and film, science, popular culture and art history. His paintings combine the vocabulary of Pop Art with a Renaissance sensibility. Their surfaces are distressed, revealing patches of underlying color, reminiscent of aging frescoes and peeling billboards.

States the artist: “When I start a piece, I don’t know what it’s going to look like when it’s finished. I like to discover the image as I work. I begin with an idea, but at some point the painting takes on a life of its own, and it leads me to a place I couldn’t have predicted. It’s like having a conversation, or taking a walk in a new neighborhood.”

Palmer has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the country. He has also created digital effects for over a dozen feature films, including The Polar Express, Spider-Man 3, and the first Harry Potter movie. Palmer’s pieces continually amaze with masterful technique and playful, yet grand imagery. Humor is also a constant presence, especially in his desserts … as they always seem to make me hungry.

– Tish Laemmle, Curator