The Attic Gallery 1101 Washington Street Vicksburg, MS 39183 Phone: 601 638 9221 FAX: 601 638 9221 |
The Attic Gallery 1101 Washington Street Vicksburg, MS 39183 Phone: 601 638 9221 FAX: 601 638 9221 |
Who is David Baum? Some might call him a vagabond or a wanderer. A less romantic answer would be that he is homeless: a street person. But the unarguable fact is he's an artist. We met David in Jackson Square in New Orleans when we stopped to admire his art. There were a couple of paintings of New Orleans landmarks and a couple portraits. But they weren't painted for the tourists and tourists weren't buying. The work was a little too intense and uncompromising. We told him we thought his work was good and left a business card. We thought that was it. A few days later we got a package with all the work we had seen and a note saying that he was leaving New Orleans and it was up to us to do something with his art. He didn't know where he would be, but he gave us his mom's address in Idaho. Soon we sold one, and when he received the money, he wrote from his new home in Kingman, AZ, where he was washing dishes to get by. For three years David sent us his paintings of the desert around Kingman and they were well received. He also sent us letters expressing his anxieties about painting. David is driven to paint. It's what he does well. But for religious reasons he wonders if it is wrong to glorify himself by painting. As a compromise he augmented his signature with a cross. Sometimes we wouldn't hear from him for months and we didn't know if he got our checks or not. One morning in August of 1996 a man came into the Attic with a fresh painting of the exterior of our shop. It was David Baum. David found Vicksburg to be a willing model. He would often be seen covered with paint, squatting on the sidewalk at any time of the day or night, with his paints and canvas strewn on the ground. His Vicksburg paintings do depict local scenes and local faces, but they also show evidence of his inner struggles. Like David, his work remains intense and uncompromising. After seven months he moved on. The last we heard he was back in Arizona with jazz on his mind. |
Chet Oil on masonite by David Baum 18" x 24" $225 |
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