Painter - Artist
David Barnett (b. 1988, Atlanta) is a painter whose work explores intuitive expression through unplanned compositions evolving over time. Drawing on the surrealist game Exquisite Corpse, he begins with simple marks and limited colors, allowing figures, shapes, and textures to emerge unpredictably. The resulting paintings are playful, emotional, and ineffable.
In 2012, Barnett apprenticed with an outdoor mural company in Brooklyn, painting large-scale advertisements and murals, including a twenty-story portrait of the Pope near Madison Square Garden.
His focus had been on the techniques of representational painting, looking to Sargent, Klimt and Bonnard for inspiration. But by 2016, after leaving NYC and commercial murals, Barnett’s focus shifted toward nature and consciousness. Living the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in the Upper Delaware River Region, his art making shifted in part because of the new beautiful surroundings, but primarily because of the new research on psychedelics, Hilma af Klimt’s show at the Guggenheim, and the Tic-Tac UFO reported in the New York Times. With a new ontological framework, Barnett’s art expanded toward intuitive abstraction, where his own idiosyncratic techniques are developed by paying attention to the feelings in the subtle body.
EDUCATION
University of Tennessee at Knoxville 2010 – 2011
B.A. in History
Reed College, Portland, Oregon 2007 – 2009
Exhibitions
Art in the Parlor, Narrowsburg, NY February 2025
The White Show, Chester’s Art Studio, Barryville NY December 2024
A group show
Cincinnati Art Club’s ViewPoint 54 Exhibition, Eisele Gallery Sept 9 - Oct 1 2022
National Juried Group Show
Rising and Falling All Day Long, Harley, Woodloch Lodge March 2022
A duo show, exploring new directions
Continuity and Change, Hawley, Woodloch Lodge August 2020
A duo show, featuring my new works of animals and flowers
Home, Narrowsburg, DVAA Gallery October 2018
A solo show featuring portraits, landscapes, and interior and garden scenes
Moments, Callicoon, River Family Wellness Center May 2018
A duo show with local artist Thomas Bosket
Continue, Callicoon, Café Adella Dori May 2016-2019
Every couple months, I hang new painting in my sister’s cafe
Group Show, Callicoon, Eva Gallery June 2016
A group show with local artists from the Upper Delaware Region
Atmospheric, Lower East Side, Con Artist Collective October 2015
A group show with members of the collective
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Freelance Muralist 2015-Present
Working with private and corporate clients to design unique outdoor and indoor murals
Scenic Art Studios, Newburgh, New York February 2018 – May 2018
Scenic Painting Studio – Scenic Painter
Cobalt Studios, White Lake, New York August 2016 – November 2016
Scenic Painting Studio - Freelance painter
Art-FX Murals, New York City & Los Angeles March 2015 – March 2016
Hand Painted Advertising – Painter
Milestone Outdoor, New York City February 2015 – January 2017
Hand Painted Advertising - Lead Painter
Colossal Media, New York City 2012 – February 2015
Hand Painted Advertising Company - Painter
PUBLICATIONS
Cover Feature, The Saint Ann’s Review, Journal of Contemporary Arts and Letters, New York Fall 2015