David Urban
Part of The Artist's Life series

Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 minutes • 2004
Also available on DVD

"Urban is especially interested in one particular element of the artistic process: the line. Whether it be scratches and scores, exuberant splashes or controlled, carefully placed forms, Urban takes abstract painting to some fresh new places: full of decay and rot and, at the same time, beguiling and vital."

The Mirror

David Urban, a Visual Arts MFA grad from the University of Guelph, is celebrated for his large abstract oil paintings. Like Cézanne, one of his heroes, David is very taken with the brushstroke itself and considers painting to be primarily an action. At work on a new painting, he discusses the influence of jazz and poetry on his work, how painting helped him move through grief, and the value of the "studio methodology" of showing up to work daily.

Subject(s): Artists–David Urban, Painting