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David Brega - 1948-present
Famous for still life and trompe l'oeil* paintings, David Brega was the second-born of identical twins, arriving on Christmas Day, 1948.
He grew up in Massachusetts and studied art along with his twin, Douglas, at the Paier School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut, from 1969-1973. Here David met Ken Davies, a famous trompe l'oeil and still life painter who was his ment
...see more »or, teacher and tutor. Their professional relationship and mutual admiration continued through the years, with Ken Davies naming David Brega as his most successful student in a 1986 interview for Connoisseur Magazine. David further studied art at Los Angeles Trade Technical College and the San Francisco Art Institute before beginning his career as a pictorial artist.
For seven years in California and Nevada, David painted amazing murals and billboards of movie stars and record artists. A major milestone of this period was the painting of two 80-foot by 45-foot murals of Frank Sinatra, commissioned by Caesars Palace.
David chose to work in still life and trompe l'oeil style and created compositions based on both historical and present-day icons and articles. The National Gallery of Art defines trompe l'oeil as "the artistic ability to depict an object so exactly as to make it appear real. A heightened form of illusionism, the art of trompe l'oeil flourished from the Renaissance onward. . . Both witty and serious, trompe l'oeil is a game artists play with spectators to raise questions about the nature of art and perception." "Colors", David's painting of a rock star's leather jacket covered with a variety of objects, is simultaneously symbolic of current culture and an interesting personal fashion statement. "Founding Father" shows John Adams,an important figure from American History, combined with images of letters and personal mementos, all symbolizing more traditional elements.
David returned Massachusetts to live in 1980 and launched a series of successful exhibitions with a 1986 solo show at the Alexander Gallery in New York City. The first show, 'David Brega, Trompe l'oeil: The Provocative Language of Illusion' sold out in only minutes. His next show at the same gallery in 1991, 'Please Do Not Touch', included the 74 x 48 inch trompe l'oeil painting "Homage". The MASCO corporation added this artwork to its permanent collection of art and later allowed it to be shown in the Knoxville Museum of Arts 1996 exhibition, "American Grandeur: Masterpieces from the MASCO and Manoogian Collection."
A later show, "Oil and Water", at the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, Massachusetts, included a 25-year retrospective of David's oil paintings in addition to watercolors painted by his twin brother, Douglas. "Colors," a 67x50 inch trompe l'oeil of Aerosmith drummer, Joey Kramer's dramatic motorcycle jacket, was first exhibited and sold quickly at this show.
Many museums and galleries have exhibited his work, including the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, the Albrecht-Kemper Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri, the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, Connecticut, the Alexander Gallery in New York City, and the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, Massachusetts. More recent shows include a solo show at the Vose Galleries of Boston in 2003 and a dual show of David and Douglas's work in 2006 at the Robert Wilson Galleries on Nantucket Island.
His paintings have appeared on nine Yankee Magazine covers. Recognition and awards include an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Bay Path College, Longmeadow, Massachusetts.
*Trompe l'oeil is a French term that means "to deceive the eye". The time-honored tradition of this style abides by a strict set of rules: A trompe must represent the flattest possible objects--letters, postcards, photographs, masking tape, thumbtacks--and they all must be painted actual size. Depth within the painting must be minimal so as to require the viewer's eye to make muscular adjustments unlike those that are required for paintings of landscapes and ordinary tabletop still lifes. A shallower depth in the painting heightens the illusion of reality.« see less
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