david a. castro
June 2008 Artist of the Month
VSA arts of California celebrated David Castro, a 24 year-old from Visalia, in December 2007 when he became one of ten winners of the VSA arts/Volkswagen of America, Inc. Driven Awards Program. David's peice, Mindscape #5, was selected to receive a $2,000 award and be part of a prestigious exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. David, his life-long art instructor and mentor, Larkspur Spottedhorse, and VSA arts of California Vice-Chairperson, Nydia Algazzali Gonzalez, flew to Washington, D.C. to be part of a congressional reception on Capitol Hill for the winning artists.
David is a recent graduate of University of California at Santa Cruz, holding his B.A. in both History and Studio Art. He is also the new Executive Director of Arts Visalia, the area's local arts council.
David has said the follwoing about his artwork: "My pieces are like Rorschach tests. Everyone sees different things in them. Some things people say to describe my work include terrestrial color planes, abstract landscapes, self-portraits. Perhaps because I like to make my paintings when I am alone, many wonder about the process, the materials and the techniques that I use. I work with considerable speed alone but often save my refinement of each work for the times when others are present in a communal studio. People seem to like to try to guess what I have placed in these works or what the shapes represent. I will leave that guess work up to you."
To learn more about David and his artwork, visit his website at www.DavidACastro.com
