King David is a Brooklyn-based abstract artist whose work is deeply informed by his personal journey, cultural heritage, and academic foundation in the arts. Born and raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn, to immigrant parents from Jamaica and Trinidad, his artistic vision is shaped by the layered complexities of identity, memory, and place. His participation profoundly influenced his early educational path in Prep for Prep, a nonprofit program that provided him with scholarship opportunities to attend The Dalton School and later Gettysburg College, where he graduated with honors in Studio Art. During his undergraduate years, he further honed his craft at the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing in Aix-en-Provence, France, where he studied for a semester abroad, immersing himself in the European artistic tradition.

Navigating a path shaped by both challenges and opportunities, David attributes his success to the mentorship of exceptional educators, particularly those who nurtured his passion for the arts. However, it was through personal tragedy—the loss of his father to suicide in 2016—that he found a profound sense of purpose and expressive clarity in abstract painting. Since then, he has dedicated himself fully to abstraction, expanding his practice to include drawing, watercolor, sculpture, and photography. He has worked out of his Brooklyn studio since 2018, continuously evolving his approach to form, color, and material.

David’s artistic practice is a convergence of three major influences: the gritty, kinetic energy of New York City, the lush and vibrant landscapes of his Caribbean heritage, and the radiant impressionistic light of southern France. These three worlds serve as conceptual and aesthetic anchors in his work, offering infinite possibilities for exploration. His paintings, rich in texture and movement, visually mirror the vast potential of the universe—oscillating between grand and intimate scales of experience.

At the core of his work is a deep investigation into contrast—particularly the relationship between beauty and ugliness and how these opposing forces define one another through paradox. Working across surfaces such as wood, plexiglass, and copper, David employs an intuitive approach to materiality, allowing paint to interact organically with its environment. Having first trained in watercolor, he embraces the fluidity of oil paint, thinning layers to create depth before building them up with thick, saturated applications. This meticulous layering process mirrors the complexity of existence itself, reflecting an ongoing dialogue between control and spontaneity, destruction and harmony.

Through his practice, King David seeks to push the boundaries of abstraction, engaging with themes of cultural lineage, transformation, and the ever-shifting nature of perception. His work invites viewers into a world of layered histories—both personal and collective—while challenging conventional notions of form, texture, and meaning.