Body of work
Artist draws inspiration from human form

By Kathy Babcock
special To News-press.com
Originally posted on August 09, 2006

For David Acevedo, a pencil was to paper as a key is to a lock. Drawing cartoons and comic book characters as a boy opened the door to his life as an artist today.

"I would draw anything that came to my mind," Acevedo said about his childhood in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. "I created my own characters with my own colors. I was the little kid that when the teacher needed a poster or whatever, it was given to me to do."

In "Verve," an exhibit of his work now on display at the Gregory Alonso Showroom in Naples, the 30-year-old Cape Coral artist continues to open doors.

Nine paintings focus on the human figure and its desire to break free from physical limits and mental boundaries.

"I like to play with the figure, to stretch it, to get it out of proportion," Acevedo said. "I want to change it and add to it."

"I know the dimensions of a body. I can draw it in perfect proportion. But that's boring."

Acevedo studied drawing, painting and sculpture at the Mayaguez campus of the University of Puerto Rico, graduating in 1998 with a degree in visual art. After moving to Southwest Florida in 2000, he became a claims representative for the Social Security Administration and is now a technical expert, working with claims and cases.

"The human figure, the human body, for me, is my biggest inspiration," he said. "Normally in my paintings, nine times out of 10, there is the human shape."

The vibrant colors of Latin American art and surrealism, especially the work of Salvador Dali, are other major influences on his work, Acevedo said.

"I just don't like pale colors or something that's too weak," he said.

"Even though I might be influenced by the art in Florida because I've been living here for six years, I still don't fall into that category of pastel colors and little soft beach scenes.

"It's very descriptive. It says Florida, it says Southwest Florida. But I am definitely influenced by Latin American art and by what I experienced in Puerto Rico.

"I just the love the way Dali lets his brain go free. He could think of anything and put it on the canvas. He made these wonderful nonexistent places with incredible figures that morph into something fresh."

Opening doors is not always easy for Acevedo or for the people who see his art.

"My series 'Verve' has a lot of emotion in it," Acevedo said. "I was going through a rough time in my personal life. I started creating the images basically because I wanted to liberate my mind and set it apart from everything else that was going on."

Originally commissioned for the January grand opening of the Rhythm In Motion Dance Academy in Cape Coral, the figures in "Verve" are featureless but not expressionless.

"I work with shading and light and color," Acevedo said. He also uses acrylic medium, gypsum and even wall spackling to add texture and further define his figures.

"His work is different from anything else you'll ever see," said Greg Kurth, Rhythm In Motion's owner. "It's amazing what David comes up with, his ideas and the colors that he uses."

"People have reacted mostly to the colors and the combinations of colors," said Philip J. Rowe, design director at the Gregory Alonso Showroom, where "Verve" has been on exhibit since May.

The collection also engages people on an emotional level, Rowe said. "Some people have said it's sad, or represents emotional distress. The expression in the work generates conversations."

"I've heard many many things about what I paint, believe me," Acevedo said. "I've had people share things with me about my art and I think, but I wasn't thinking about that when I created it."

"A lot of people say things that really aren't true. I don't paint demons. I don't paint corpses. I don't paint morbid things.

"We have to break free from that mentality. Art is art. It's your expression. You cannot limit your expression because you think that you might offend somebody.

"If you really have the intention of offending somebody, that's another thing. But if you're just creating something from your heart, just putting it as you see it, I think that people should accept that."

Acevedo wants to see that acceptance start in Southwest Florida, a place where he would like to leave his mark.

"I would like to somehow influence other artists in just expressing themselves without boundaries, without trying to fit in, without trying to paint something just because they know people in the area are going to like it. I feel like we need to be a little bit more open to new ideas and to a new generation of artists.

"I hope that Fort Myers becomes a place where you can enjoy art. Now the downtown area is going be called the River District. Why don't we have an art district as well?

"We need more venues, more places where we can showcase our art. I know there are a lot of people trying. There are galleries opening in downtown Fort Myers. There are galleries on Pine Island, in Matlacha. But something is holding us back. I don't know what it is.

"We have to break free from whatever that is and just want it and create art without boundaries."

From GULF COAST TIMES Vol. 1 Issue 6 June 22, 2006

A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE

By Yohana De La Torre

Surrealism boldly interprets imagination and more than the naked eye.

It’s an intriguing art form that is stripped down to the raw essentials where freedom has no boundaries, where the conscious control people build for themselves is no longer present, and where the truth of the unconscious mind is exposed.

In a nut shell, that is David Acevedo’s world of art. A world that started years ago in his native land of Arecibo, Puerto Rico with several lined notebooks, a pencil, and a passion.

“I would collect the left over notebooks with the lines and all and pile them up in my room,” Acevedo, 30, recalls. “I would literally fill up every inch by painting or drawing cartoons or comic book characters, which is normally where a lot of artist probably started.”