D avid L igare
NOVUM INCREMENTUM
(New Growth) , 1995/2024
Oil on canvas
24 x 18 in.
I have spent nearly five decades painting works rooted in the aesthetic and philosophical ideas of Greco-Roman antiquity. The Greek philosopher Plato’s criteria for a work of art was orthotes , ophelia , and charis , which translates into mimetic correctness, usefulness, and beauty. For myself, I embraced and continue to employ a tripartite criterion of first, an underlying compositional structure, second, a surface that imitates nature, and lastly, content or meaning that reflects humanistic ideals.
Early in my career I was deeply influenced by the artist and critic Sidney Tillim, who stated that “Looking back—nostalgia—is part of the critical meaning of painting representational narrative again. Nostalgia is frequently misjudged as sentimentality or condemned as regressive when it is in fact a moral sentiment.” (“Notes on Narrative and History Painting,” Artforum [May 1977], p. 41). As a Postmodern Neo-Classical artist, my own view of morality as a humanist is wholly secular. The moral imperatives as I see them stem from the current decline of rational thinking, a lack of desire for knowledge in general, and, in particular, the loss of the perspective of history. We are deeply in danger of becoming a repressive and antirationalist society susceptible to falsehoods and misinformation.
My previous exhibitions at Hirschl & Adler have included still lifes, landscapes, figures, and narrative scenes, oftentimes in combination, that explore the human condition. I am interested in the interaction of the present and the past, and the foundational ideas embodied in Classical art that continue to feed into our culture. We need to be reminded of these ideas from time to time because their relevance always has new meaning and new value.
Whether still life or landscape, I choose to present my images bathed in a specific, late-afternoon sunlight, sometimes called the supremely beautiful “golden
(Sunlight) , 2024
24 x 18 in.
hour.” The allegorical meaning of the sun provides one of the greatest metaphors in human history. First, that there is no life without sunlight, and second, it represents the Platonic ideals of goodness, knowledge, and justice. There is an essential truth to sunlight, perhaps the central truth. To always paint in the language of sunlight is to acknowledge the beauty of rational thought and the value of humanistic action.
Through these new paintings, I share my “specific views”, which include my dialogue with contemporary art (especially conceptual art) as well as my concerns about society, like our poor literacy rate. My still lifes in this exhibition are not like my earlier arrangements of offerings to the Gods ( Aparchai ), a genre I discovered, nor are they set against the sea. They are branches of leaves that often held symbolic meaning in antiquity. They are solitary, set against a dark ground, conceptual in presentation but inspired by Venetian painters like Bellini and Carpaccio. Each inscription holds an important idea like SCIRE , the Latin word for “to know.” The use of Latin hopefully distances the viewer just enough to invite investigation and contemplation.
Early on in my career I discovered that there were many whole systems defined by three parts, Plato’s criteria for a work of art being just one. In 1987 I painted my first large rock arch painting called Landscape with a Specific View ( VERITAS, UTILITAS, VENUSTA S ), meaning “Truth, Usefulness and Beauty.” It was the specific view of the distant landscape but also my specific view of art and life. For this exhibition, the arch is set in the sea. The inscription reads, “knowledge, skill and beauty.” The little owl in the painting of a triangular rock is the owl of Athena— Athene noctua —who, again, embodies the idea of knowledge. Finally, the cut-off stump of an olive tree—again, a symbol of Athena, the wisest of the ancient gods—shows how a tradition considered long dead can sprout new growth: NOVUM INCREMENTUM . What I call recurrent Classicism emerges periodically to inspire and inform us about the harmonious integration of diversity, a reverence towards nature, the radical pursuit of knowledge, and the embracing of the full implications of humanist beauty.
DAVID LIGARE
SOLIS
Oil on canvas
A Specific View SCIENTIA, ARTE, VENUSTAS
( Knowledge, Skill, Beauty ), 2024
Oil on canvas
48 x 72 in.
(To Allow) , 2024
Oil on canvas
14 x 10 in.
discere
(To Learn) , 2023
Oil on canvas
14 x 10 in.
Landscape with an Owl ATHENE NOCTUA
( Owl of Athena ), 2024
Oil on canvas
40 x 50 in.
D avid L igare
,
BORN
1945 Oak Park, IL
EDUCATION
Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 David Ligare: Spheres of Influence , Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
Forms of Influence by David Ligare , Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield, CA
2023 David Ligare: Drapery Paintings , Winfield Gallery, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA
2021 The Presence of the Past , LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
2020 New Orders , Winfield Gallery, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA
2019 Elements , LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
2018 David Ligare: Still Life , Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York, NY
2017–18 David Ligare: Magna Fide (The Great Belief) , Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA
2015–16 David Ligare: California Classicist , Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA; and Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
2015 History , Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York, NY
To Draw is to See, Drawings: 1972–2015 , Winfield Gallery, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA
2013 River/Mountain/Sea , Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA; and Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
2012 Big Sur: Paintings by David Ligare , Winfield Gallery, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA
David Ligare: New Paintings , Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York, NY
2010 David Ligare: Redux , Plus One Gallery, London, England
2009 Primary Structures , Hartnell College Gallery, Salinas, CA
2008 A Sense of Place: An Homage to Robinson Jeffers, Winfield Gallery, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA
2007 Aparchai , Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2006 Ritual Offerings , Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2005
Offerings: A New History , Plus One Gallery, London, England
2003 Sea Paintings , Koplin Del Rio Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
2002 Viewpoint: The Pastures of Heaven, National Steinbeck Center, Salinas, CA
Objects of Intention: Still Life Paintings , Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2000 Koplin Del Rio Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
1999 Paintings from the Pastures of Heaven , Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1998 The Classical Impulse , Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
L’eta dell’Oro , Galleria Il Polittico, Rome, Italy
Koplin Del Rio Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
1997 Still Life Paintings , Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1996 Ponte Vecchio / Torre Nova, A Project by David Ligare , The Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture, London, England
Landscape and Language: Paintings by David Ligare , Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
1995 Still Lifes , Stiebel Modern, New York, NY
Stages for Contemplation , Fresno Museum, Fresno, CA
1994 Koplin Del Rio Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
1993 Stiebel Modern, New York, NY
1992 Koplin Del Rio Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
1990 Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, NY
1988 Koplin Del Rio Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
1986 Koplin Del Rio Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, NY
1985 Koplin Del Rio Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
1984 University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
1983 Hall Galleries, Dallas, TX
Koplin Del Rio Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
1978 Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York, NY
1977 Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
1973 Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York, NY
1970 Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Resonantly Me: A Queer Artist’s Invitational , Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield, CA
See Verso: A Guide to Looking Back, Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York, NY
2020 Mortality: A Survey of Contemporary Death Art , American University Museum at the Katzen Art Center, Washington, D.C.
2018 Bread & Salt , Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York, NY
Vis-à-Vis , Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY
2017 License to Deceive , Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York, NY
Nocturnes: From Dusk till Dawn , Winfield Gallery, Caramel-By-The-Sea, CA
From Wendt to Thiebaud: Recent Gifts for the Permanent Collection , Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
Et in Arcadia Ego, William Rolland Gallery of Fine Art, Thousand Oaks, CA
2013 Duets: Art in Conversation, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY
2012 Summer Selections, Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York, NY
Sublime: Nature, Science and Beauty in Contemporary Art, Koplin Del R io Gallery, Culver City, CA
2011 Masterworks: The Best of Hirschl & Adler, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY
2010 In Common , Pulliam Gallery, Portland, OR
Wine and Spirit: Rituals, Remedies, and Revelry , Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, MA
Kink: The Seduction of Art , Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Culver City, CA
Summer Selections , Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York, NY
Take Five: Hirschl & Adler Welcomes Five New Artists , Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York, NY
Tomorrow’s Legacies , Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Real and Hyper Real , San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
2009 American Concepts and Global Visions: Selections from the AT&T Collection , McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX
2008 The West Coast Ten , Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Contemporary Still Lifes , Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA
ORDINE NATURAE
(The Order of Nature) , 2015
Oil on canvas
14 x 10 in.
2007 Representation , Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA, and New York, NY
Dreamland: American Explorations into Surrealism , Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2006 Beyond the Likeness: Self-Portraits by California Artists , Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
Intimate Landscapes , Winfield Gallery, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA; and Sesnon Gallery, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA
New Old Masters , curated by Donald Kuspit, National Museum, Gdansk, Poland
The Classical Spirit , Plus One Gallery, London, England
The “S” Word: Spirituality in Contemporary Art , The Judson Gallery of Contemporary and Traditional Art, Los Angeles, CA
2005 Contemporary Drawing as Preparation , The Judson Gallery of Contemporary and Traditional Art, Los Angeles, CA
To Be Or Not To Be: Four Hundred Years of Vanitas Painting , Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
Quindici Anni: dalla nascita della Galleria Il Polittico di Roma , Scuderie Aldobrandini per l’arte, Frascati, Italy
2004 California New Old Masters , Gallery C, Hermosa Beach, CA
2003 The Not-So-Still Life , San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
2002 Artists of the Ideal: Nuovo Classicismo , Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Verona, Italy
2001 Collecting Our Thoughts , San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
Poetic Natures , Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
2000 Still Lifes from Hackett-Freedman Gallery, Spanierman Gallery, New York, NY
Drawings V, Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
A Noble Tradition Revisited: The Contemporary American Still Life , Spanierman Gallery, New York, NY
1999 Green Woods and Crystal Waters: The American Landscape Tradition , Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK, and traveling
1998 Re-Presenting Representation IV, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
Gold Rush to Pop: 200 Years of California Art, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
A Feast for the Eye: Food in Art , M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA
Realism Knows No Bounds , Van de Griff Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Drawings IV, Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Contempo-Italianate: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Italy , Laband Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
1997 10th Anniversary Exhibition , Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Toward the Millenium: Contemporary Paintings from Northern California , Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
Re-presenting Representation III, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
Back into the Future , The Kitchen, New York, NY
Dramatic Realism: The New Baroque , Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, PA
1996 Classicism in the 20th Century, Lizan-Tops Gallery, East Hampton, NY
Still Lifes , Contemporary Realist Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Inaugural Exhibition , Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1995 Landscape: The Continuum , Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1994 Parallax Views , Contemporary Realist Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Slice of Life: Contemporary Still Lifes , Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
1993
1992
Drawings III, Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Still Life , Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
American Realism & Figurative Art, 1955–1990 , traveling museum exhibition in Japan
1991 Drawings , Koplin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Only Drawings , Art Institute of Southern California, Laguna Beach, CA
1990
Architecturally Inspired , Long & Ryle Gallery, London, England
Regarding Art: Art Works About Art , Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
1988 Classical Figures , Simms Fine Art, New Orleans, LA
Life Stories , Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Reveal: New Work by Gallery Artists , Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1987 Modern Myths , Boise Art Gallery, Boise, ID, and traveling
The Artist and the Myth, Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
Parola / Italia , Galleria Appollodoro, Rome, Italy
The Anatomy of Drawing , Hooks-Epstein Gallery, Houston, TX
Contemporary Humanism , Art Gallery, California State University, Fullerton, CA
1986 Drawing: A Classical Continuum , Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Uncovering the Past: Tribute & Parody , Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
Annual Purchase Exhibition , American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
1985 T he Classical Tradition in Recent Painting and Sculpture , Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
Beyond Antiquity: Classical References in Contemporary Art , DeCordova and Dana Museum of Art, Lincoln, MA
American Realism: Twentieth Century Drawings and Watercolors , San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
1984 Collector’s Gallery XVIII , McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX
Contemporary Classicism , California State University, Fullerton, CA
1983 A Heritage Renewed: Representational Drawing Today , University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
West Coast Realism , Laguna Beach Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA, and traveling
Realistic Directions , Zoller Gallery, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA
1982 Modern American Painting , National Pinakothiki, Athens, Greece
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
Exxon-Mobil Corporation, Fairfax, VA
Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy
M. H. de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA
Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Museum of Art & Archeology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
Knight-Ridder, San Jose, CA
Princess Cruise Lines
Atlantic-Richfield Corporation
Security Pacific Collection
Hughes Corporation
Pacific Telesis
Syracuse University Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
Art Institute Chicago, Chicago, IL
Krannert Art Museum, Champagne, IL
design
Elizabeth Finger Design
photography
Richard Forschino
cover
Landscape with an Owl (ATHENA NOCTUA)
( Owl of Athena ) , 2024 (detail)
Oil on canvas
40 x 50 in.
frontis
SCIRE (To Know), 2024
Oil on canvas
18 x 14 in.
© 2024 Hirschl & Adler Modern 978-1-937941-26-0
H&A