David Petrides Bio

David Petrides was born in 1979 near Atlanta, Georgia.  He studied Engineering and Industrial Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology, graduating in 2002, and subsequently apprenticed under celebrated sculptural woodworker Michael Gilmartin.  His solo exhibitions include “An Acceptable Level of Violence” and “Platonic Gelding” at Helios Fine Art in Las Vegas.  He has been included in numerous group exhibitions, including “MANIFEST” at Freemarket Gallery and “Boundary Issues” at BlankCanvas in Atlanta.  His sculptural work has been acquired by the City of Atlanta Parks Department.  His painting “Stand Clear of the Closing Doors, Please,” was selected by master sculptor Fen de Villiers for the Editor’s Choice in the 2023 Passage Prize.  He lives and works in Las Vegas, Nevada.

David Petrides Artist’s Statement

The way I use color and form speaks to an internal dilemma. On one side, my engineering mind is concerned with practicality: structure as a means of imparting or resisting force, paint as a protective coating, material selected for durability, lightness, or some other measurable quality. On the artistic side, however, shapes can flow and breathe, color makes us feel, and materials have emotional and spiritual attributes that defy calculation. To make sense of the conflict, I reimagine and playfully subvert the processes and materials of the industrial world, combining them with splashes of tropical color and whimsical juxtapositions, while at the same time specifically building layer after layer in a way that appears spontaneous and free. As a self-taught artist with a neurological tremor in each hand, my industrial style allows me to express how I see the world without the hindrance and untenable use of a paintbrush.