David Kassan

Raw, poignant and profoundly honest, David Jon Kassan’s work aesthetically captures humanity in its true form. As an artist, Kassan acts as an empathetic intermediary between the subject he portrays and the viewer. More than simply replicating his subjects Kassan seeks to understand them. He seeks to capture the essence of those he paints, imbuing them with their own voice. They communicate with the viewer interpersonally and we see them through our own eyes. Our gaze transcends the picture plane and permeates deep into the subject’s psyche. We are moved by Kassan’s depictions, captivated by powerfully expressive hands, pensive faces, and flesh that appears warm to touch. Kassan’s portraits pulsate with the lives of his sitters – the weighty streams-of-consciousness of past experiences, feeling and introspection. This is what reality means to Kassan – preserving the realness of nuanced emotion and expression emanating from the people he paints. Kassan’s technical mastery of oil paint combined with adept draftsmanship enables him to fluently represent what he sees. This is evident in the stunning flesh tones Kassan achieves. Transparent layers of oil paint are built up, forming an intricate lattice of veins, blood and skin. Through this light enters and is reflected back, infusing the subject with veridical luminosity. We can also sense movement and life beneath the undulating creases and folds of clothing. It is the artist’s intent to control the medium of oil paint so that it is not part of the viewer to subject equation. Kassan facilitates an interface between subject and viewer with which he is conscious not to interfere. The technical aspect of his work is thus a means to an end; an end rooted in the viewer’s experience. We find inherent contradictions in Kassan’s work as it oscillates between representation and transformation, reality and abstraction.

+ Finding Purpose in my work

As a figurative artist I am always trying to challenge myself, to make a painting that is more real, more heartfelt, and as true to the human condition as I can. Something more meaningful.  Over the past 3 years I have been focusing my work on telling other people’s stories, mainly those of Survivors of the Shoah. These are important stories that would be tragic if we lost them to time. Most of these paintings have been one or two figures and the natural evolution of this series of paintings for me is to paint more figures and go larger!

I am starting the largest painting of my career; it is an 11 figure painting that will be 18 feet by 8 feet high. It is a continuation of my current series and the subject is 11 Survivors of Auschwitz, that I met with in January in Los Angeles.

This painting will be exhibited at the Fisher Museum of Art in Los Angeles in the spring of 2019 and has been partially sponsored by the USC Shoah Foundation. To help fully fund this two-year long non-commissioned painting, however, I’m reaching out to the art world to help me as well as to follow along in the complete journey. I recently set up a Patreon Page where I will be sharing all of the process, video, and backstage fun….for more details visit http://patreon.com/davidkassan

+ Draper Grand Prize and People’s Choice award! 

I was super excited to have received the The William Draper Grand Prize and People’s Choice Award from the Portrait Society of America at the end of last month (April 2017) at the Conference in Atlanta. So glad that my painting of Survivors, Louise and Lazar Farkas resonates!

David Kassan at work on his prize winning double portrait,

“Love and Resilience, Portrait of Louise and Lazar Farkas, Survivors of the Shoah”

 To see more of David’s work and explore his many endeavors, visit www.davidkassan.com

View more of David’s videos: www.youtube.com/user/DavidJonKassan/videos