We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful David Van Gough. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with David below.

Alright, David thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

The risk as a “creative” never ends-almost by virtue 0f the fact that it relies entirely on faith. Faith that the muse of inspiration will descend. Faith that the vision on canvas will be a simulacrum of the one in your head. Faith that something innately personal, slavishly produced, will connect enough with another person to want to own it. Faith of commitment to deadlines that can at the cost of time and relationships, a physical and mental toll and possible penury.

And certainly when one sets to undertake a triad of solo showcases as I have over the last decade-that involved insurmountable faith of working long hours of weeks, months and years. From Purgatorium (2014), to Paridiso’s Fall (2019) and “Infernal’ (2021), I learned that manifestly it can be one’s deliverance or one’s folly.
That the drive to express, can be akin to an incurable madness-a sacred covenant that is both sanctuary and sanatorium. passion or perdition.

It’s why my latest odyssey, “Death and the Maiden-my collaboration with friend and artist Jasmine Becket-Griffith, feels like redressing the balance, because it’s a shared endeavor into the unknown together.

But that’s the great gamble of any risk- it’s never about the destination, but the journey to get there

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I think the easiest way to summarize myself for an audience is as a dark artist. It’s become a bit of catchall for work that is I suppose-a counterpoint to someone like Thomas Kinkade- although, having just read Billion Dollar Painter, I’d argue his life was darker than H,R.Giger’s.

It’s work that sits on the esoteric fringes, shrouded by shadow, an interplay from the darker recesses of the soul. Milton put it best when he said that “what’s dark within, illuminate.”

What hastened my transition to dark art was working in advertising for twenty five years as a graphic designer, which was like traversing Dante’s nine circles of hell, with Virgil played by Patrick Bateman.

Dark Art became my sanctuary.

At the core my work is an emotional excavation for purpose, and so any collectors or client’s I’ve been blessed with, have been drawn to my work because they recognized that there is some kind of knowledge or message to be gleaned beneath the surface-a measure of unspoken truths made tangible.

Those connections have been profound, often revelatory and it always instills me with a sense of reward when the work inspires, because it’s no less than forging a flame in the dark.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

There is a tendency, particularly in the glut of information to passively imbibe art almost in the same way as scrolling through channels. With algorithms throttling content in favor of sponsored clickbait, and the fight for prominence over the post fizz and crackle of seven second video’s on Tik Tok or people selling farts in a jar, it’s getting harder for artist’s to remain seen.

Likes are wonderful but we can’t eat them.

If you can’t afford to support your favorite artist, even by purchasing a $20 print, or joining their Patreon (for as little as $1 a month), then shares are the next best thing. Exposure to a broader audience means greater opportunity, because virability means visibility.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Don’t Pay to Play. Seriously-Don’t do it!! There are a number of organizations out there, one particular notorious that I shan’t name, but is found particularly “wanting”. there is absolute zero impetus for the curator/editor/?promoters, jury’s to represent you or any of your cohorts once you have-of course there are overheads for the gallery, but the house always wins, whether you sell or not, and you are enabling bad practice, one that exploits creatives.
Remember, a good partnership is one where you both are invested in the gamble, not one where you walk away poorer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://strangeling.com/deathandthemaiden/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/davidvangough/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidgoughart
• Other: https://www.patreon.com/davidvangough