SURFACE TREATMENT: David Adickes' 'A World of Splendor'

This artist takes us to a world that just feels good. “David Adickes: A World of Splendor” is currently on display at the STC Library Art Gallery, featuring mixed media paintings and giclée prints.

“Adickes is steadfast and meticulous throughout his process and the artistic creation of his work,” said Sofia K. Vestweber, STC’s Library Art Gallery associate. “His paintings are powerful… bringing the viewer an extraordinary sense of whimsy and splendor.”

Trees bloom with surprising bursts of color against harmonizing skies in Trees with Bike. In another work, a tightly composed painting shows five riders and becomes a play of layers. The composition moves in tiers of horizontal shapes of color from ground and shrubberies to mountains and sky. The horizontal movement is broken by a row of red barked trees that slice them into isolated sections. Each of those tiers is, itself, a product of layers of color that vibrate with life. This is characteristic of Adickes’ artistic process.

There is little evidence of Adickes’ East Texas heritage in his subject matter or the style of his painting, which reflects a French aesthetic. His painting is more in line with the geometric shapes of the Modernist painter, Fernand Leger, with whom he studied in Paris. His choices of subjects reflect his affection for France: scenes along the Seine, sailboats along the waterfront at Antibes, and the French Chateau depicted in his acrylic painting, Chateau de Gein, are favored inspirations.

His paintings of figures have been dubbed the “Adickes Men” by biographer A. Canty. These figures are centered or slightly off center on the picture plane against plain backgrounds. “ I call this one The Poet,” explained Adickes. I’ve been doing beards for a long time out of preference. But I like the Impressionist artists themselves – their own faces. The way they look.” Commenting on his fascination with paint layers, he continued, “The Interference paint in the background gives a pearlescent quality to the color under it, a light blue.” The Poet wears a saturated blue tie and violet trimmed jacket.

Adickes uses his giclée prints both as reproduced images and as a means to springboard into a completely new work. “Giclées allow a person to have a nice big painting without the cost,” said Adickes, “so it’s for people who want the look, who want the color, but can’t afford the cost of an original. I usually do three or four of a painting, but sometimes they’re enhanced and become something else. Four Friends with Black Bird started off as a giclée; now it’s 100% paint.”

In addition to his paintings, Adickes is also known for his monumental concrete bust sculptures of U.S. Presidents. There are two parks in South Dakota and Virginia adorned with Adickes’s twenty-foot sculptures of all forty-three American presidents. David Adickes lives and paints in Houston.

Nancy Moyer, Professor Emerita form UTPA, is an art critic for The Monitor. She may be reached at nmoyer@rgv.rr.com