The Lexington Minute-Man: Excerpts from a review of David Schock exhibit at the Renjeau Galleries in Concord, MA:

Art has been part of my life as long as I can remember. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and have lived almost all my life in New England, now settled in Rhode Island, with times living in Manhattan, NY, Carmel, CA, Santa Fe, NM and London, England, mixed in.  

I enjoyed drawing comic books when I was young. My paternal grandmother was a skilled water-colorist, and my father, grandfather, and great- grandfather were all sailboat designers. On my mother's side, my grandfather was a jewelry designer. So art is in the blood!

I went to the University of Massachusetts, and have an MFA, but really learned about being an artist during study at the Exeter College of Art in England, and how to paint at the Art Students League in New York. 

I admire many artists, but am influenced in my own painting primarily by the works of Wyeth, Sargent, Hopper, Homer, Sorolla, Monet and Degas.

My career began taking commissions as a portrait painter, and I still continue to do so, specializing in informal portraits of families and children, something few artists do. I find this challenging, but very rewarding, that is, to capture an image of a family and place that reflects their time together.

After art school, I returned to take a studio in England, continuing my study and practice of portraiture, and also learned to paint landscapes in France, Italy, and England with the help of an artist friend based in England. 

Based on this landscape series I secured my first major exhibit, walking into a prestigious London gallery with my (then) slides, and, to my astonishment, being offered an exhibit on the spot!

After that I returned to the states, and started exhibiting extensively in Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Boston, and eventually Naples, FL and Carmel, CA, where I had my own gallery for a time. 

I have also had my own one-man gallery on and off in Rhode Island, often seasonally, as I enjoy meeting the people who purchase and live with my work. 

In my work I seek to share the beauty and meaning of the life and world I see around me. The main way I have expressed this over the years is through classical painting. It is my wish that my paintings express the power of love, the profound meaning of beauty, and the deeper nature that lies within all of us.

While the core of my work has remained "traditional," I experiment with subjects and styles beyond my classical work frequently, and have created a series of yoga paintings, sports art and more, all in expressionist styles. 

One thing about being a "modern" painter, in an age of diversity and information, is that where once artists were tied to a certain genre, there is a great deal of opportunity to explore, and I feel that is a great addition creatively.

I maintain a studio in Wakefield, RI, and much of my work is centered around the New England shore. 

 For me, art is about seeing the world in different ways. Perception is a choice about what we choose to see, and the artist freezes a particular perception to draw attention to it, to express its validity in his or her vision of the world. 

Art has the potential to direct our varying perceptions, with their constantly changing appearances, to a more constant, truthful vision of reality. Humanity could be said to be in a collective dream--expression in the various mediums of  the arts ideally creates a "dream within a dream" that  leads to awakening. Great art reminds us that we are spiritual beings first, not only material ones. 

I’ve spent my life painting moments that feel quietly alive—a figure in sunlight, a child absorbed in time, a place where something real is happening just beneath the surface. 

These paintings come from a simple love: to notice what is here, and to honor it. And perhaps to bring attention to something beautiful or meaningful that might not have been seen in the same way otherwise. 

Over the past thirty years, my work has been shown in galleries throughout the United States and England, and I’ve been honored with awards including recognition from the Boston Copley Society. 

And i believe that the arts, in their many forms, bring an awareness to us that we are not just our physical bodies, our roles, or our life story, but something deeper: the arts remind us that we are feeling, expansive beings. Beings of spirit.
 

The visual arts, in particular, remind us of what in us lies beyond normal awareness. They are not just meaningful and beautiful themselves: they bring more meaning and beauty to our experience of life as a whole. They teach us to see.

A solitary house at twilight looks more evocative after seeing Hopper’s work. France is forever more beautiful in our sight because of Monet. Our concept of humanity itself is more majestic, and great, because of Michelangelo.
 

So, my hope is that when you look at a painting, you feel something of your own deeper essence reflected back. 

~

Personally, I utilize the figure in my  paintings as a symbol of interaction and  perception as well as a complete entity in itself; one system, the body, interacting with another, nature. Human perception is that these are different, separate systems at times, not at others. This dichotomy, and the search for harmonious relationships resulting from its creative resolution, are the major focus of my figurative work.

In my landscape work I choose to focus on and celebrate the successful relationship of man and nature, often through a landscape woven through time with human interaction, such as a beautiful garden or farm, or the  simple, timeless enjoyment  of a child at play on the beach."  

David Waterman Schock,,

2026