#david ibata

[vinasana]

Flyer I designed for a drawing workshop we’re doing at Shopkeepers. Original artwork by David Ibata | http://www.davidribata.com/

[ddaycollective]

Open studio in Anacostia. To set up a visit, email [email protected]

[ddaycollective]

Compendium: Selected Works By David Ibata // The Median, Washington, D.C., March 2014

photo © Danielle Scruggs

More photos here.

Missed the opening reception on 3/22? Fret not. Email us at [email protected] to schedule an appointment to see David's work. 

[ddaycollective]

There is nothing like seeing art in person. Absolutely nothing compares. I see art online as a call to action.

Kim Drew and Black Contemporary Art - AFROPUNK

We couldn’t agree more. Speaking of which…

Come to Compendium: Selected Works by David Ibata, this Saturday, 3/22 to see original art in person, live and up close. More info here.

[ddaycollective]

#DC, you're cordially invited.

[ddaycollective]

DDAY: Who We Are, Pt. 1

In anticipation of Compendium: Selected Works by David Ibata, our second showcase at The Median in D.C. (our first one was Countenance, a pop-up show held in November 2013), we caught up with DDAY Collective co-founder David Ibata, whose works will be on display starting Saturday, March 22nd.

What medium do you work in and why are you drawn to that medium?

My medium of choice is oil paint. I’ve always been amazed at how versatile it is from conveying flesh to textured surfaces, to fabric, and light itself. I find it to be a substance of never-ending possibilities.

Describe some of your past work and what's next.

Many of the paintings of have done in the past have been focused around direct portraiture but as I get older and more sophisticated in my approaches to visual storytelling I think the future works will be more focused on being visually cinematic narrative paintings.

How would you describe the core purpose of your work?

I wouldn’t say that there is a major overarching purpose to the paintings that I make. To me, each painting is a self-contained world. Within those worlds I can explore many concepts using pop-cultural and literary references. I can incorporate references that perhaps had not been put together earlier and find a visual through line that may seem off kilter yet interesting.

What are you inspirations -- artistic and otherwise?

The obvious and perhaps cliché answer for my artistic inspiration is Sargent, Velazquez, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Monet, Margaret Bowland, Steven Asseal, Ben Ferry, Craig Mullens, James Jean, etc. But the other half of the equation is movies. I grew watching a lot of television and movies. From a very young age I was visually downloading the language of film into my psyche.

When did you first identify as an artist?

I still don’t think of myself as an artist. Just being a “painter” feels more down to earth.

Why are collectives important?

It is very hard to go into the art world alone especially when you have little to no money backing up your “vision”. It’s always better to do things as a team and with people you love and respect. A strong community backing in whatever endeavor you take up becomes worth more than gold.

Interested in seeing more work from Ibata? Be sure to come to our opening reception for Compendium, Saturday March 22nd, 7pm at The Median. There will be refreshments, music, a raffle for a chance to win a painting, and most importantly, art! Visit our site, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and check back here for more info!

[walkermargaret]

In "Towers," though, which continues to do big at the box office as the second film of the Rings trilogy (the third, "Return of the King," is to come out at the end of the year), the series' heroes -- hobbits, elves, dwarves and people -- for the first time encounter races of human adversaries. They include the Easterlings and Haradrim, denizens of lands in the east and south of Middle Earth who have joined with the forces of evil. The Easterlings can barely be made out under their armor; their faces are covered except for a narrow slit through which glare pairs of coal-black eyes. But their headgear looks like a cross between a Samurai warrior's helmet and a cone-shaped "Coolie" hat. An Asian influence is obvious. The Haradrim are more recognizable. They are garbed in turbans and flowing crimson robes. They ride giant elephants. They resemble nothing other than North African or Middle Eastern tribesmen. A recently released "Towers" companion book, "The Lord of the Rings: Creatures," calls the Haradrim "exotic outlanders" whose costumes "were inspired by the twelfth-century Saracen warriors of the Middle East." The Saracens were Islamic soldiers who battled Christian invaders during the Crusades. The "good guys" include the human Dunedain, Rohirrim and Gondorians. All fair-skinned, mostly blond and mostly blue-eyed. ( A third group of human foes in the film is white: the Wild Men. The fallen wizard Saruman incites them by reminding them the horsemen of Rohan oppress them and have driven them from their lands. Cavalry against native tribes; does this picture seem familiar?) In the nearly five decades since "Lord of the Rings" was first published, Tolkien fans were willing to overlook parts of the text some condemned as racially insensitive. In "Rings," it was argued, race was never directly addressed in the book, and physical descriptions of enemy humans were rare. Things that might strike today's reader as discomfiting were attributed to the intellectual, cultural and social milieu within which Tolkien (1892-1973), an Oxford don, moved. Can anyone recall one white male author before the present literary era -- other than perhaps the far-seeing Mark Twain in "Huckleberry Finn" -- who, when the two sides came into conflict, depicted men of color sympathetically and Caucasian men as evil? Better to focus on the "Rings'" main themes: of courage, hope and love, of friendship, loyalty and spiritual strength, in the face of a fearsome threat.

David Ibata, "'Lord' of racism? Critics view trilogy as discriminatory." Chicago Tribune. January 12, 2003.