Humans have an easy time connecting to other humans, so for painter David Denniston, incorporating humans into art is the best way to ensure the viewer connects to that art.
Denniston works primarily in oil, always with an emphasis on the human figure and typically with a single light source to deepen lights and darks.
A Michigan native, Denniston has been in Columbus since 1986 and now lives in German Village. He’s been making art on and off since he graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design 25 years ago, though his interest in it goes back farther than that.
Growing up, Denniston was always interested in art and music, and excelled at both in high school. His parents encouraged him to check out CCAD to explore the former, though initially, more of his interest lay with the latter.
“I thought I was going to be a musician, and luckily, I had supportive parents who knew I needed something to fall back on,” he says.
It was CCAD where, thanks to mandatory fine arts classes, Denniston discovered oil painting and the options it presents to the artist. He’s been using it as a medium ever since, though it’s only recently that he’s adopted it as his main medium and moved away from the mixed media work he had been doing before.
“I find it’s a medium that allows you to keep on going over it and playing with it until you get it the way you like,” he says.
He’s gravitated toward humans as a means to engage the viewer – use of people, and especially use of eye contact, helps viewers engage with paintings, he says.
Much of Denniston’s recent work has followed a narrative centered on a South African model who lives in Franklinton, always clad in a specific red dress, with the associated paintings all set in the west Columbus neighborhood.
“Sometimes she’s the focus of paintings, other times she’s background, but there’s always her and her surroundings with that red dress,” says Denniston.
It’s no coincidence that Denniston chose a Franklinton model for his current series of works. He spends a lot of time in the neighborhood himself, as he maintains a studio at Franklinton artists’ hub 400 West Rich, and has been inspired by the community and its residents.
That inspiration drove him to make Franklinton a key part of his present endeavor.
“I was trying to pull in a
nd create something I could work on for a set period of time,” he says.
Also providing substantial inspiration for Denniston are gallery shows around town, particularly those at the Columbus Museum of Art. He is a big fan of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Robert Rauschenberg and Christian Boltanski.
Some of Denniston’s work is on display at Angela Meleca Gallery in downtown Columbus. The gallery will host a major exhibition for him – with the working title Fact vs. Fiction – in the fall.
His paintings for the show will focus on realistic depictions of individuals in entirely fantastic situations, he says.
“It’s not just portraiture,” Denniston says. “I put people in surroundings and settings that engage the viewer, and there’s a story or more to what’s going on.”
He also has a number of paintings hanging in 400 West Rich’s event space and in the building’s Strongwater Food and Spirits bar and restaurant.
Garth Bishop is editor of CityScene Magazine. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
