Artist interview: david m. esquivel

As you may know, throughout the early months of 2021 David and I worked together to create two contemporary embroidery samplers combining David’s color and shape sensibilities with my embroidery experience and textural explorations. The end result is a set of hybrid works of art that play to each of our strengths exploring shape, color, texture, and line. They blur, if not completely erase, the line between Craft and Fine Art. From the beginning we knew we wanted to structure this artistic collaboration within the framework of the #SKBDIY pattern program to create an even broader and more comprehensive artistic experience and exchange. Through our two extra special patterns, David and I invite you into our collaboration as well and hope you can explore your own creativity while practicing a series of embroidery techniques and creating a work on contemporary art.

The #SKBDIY x DAVID M. ESQUIVEL patterns are available through the end of June!

David M. Esquivel is a contemporary painter based in Aurora, IL. You can follow along with his work on Instagram and through his website.

We hope you enjoy this interview diving a little deeper into his work!

S: You describe yourself as a self-taught painter. When and how did you discover you're passion for painting?

D: I got into art in high school when I randomly signed up for beginner art as an elective my sophomore year. I didn’t think much about it but that class changed my life. My teacher was the absolute greatest, shout out to Mrs. K! I think every project I made the first semester of the class she chose to put in the school district’s fine art festival. She was incredibly encouraging in everything I was doing for the two years I had her as a teacher and is the sole reason I’m an artist at all today. My senior year I moved to another teacher’s class, shout out Mrs. McCarron! In her class is where I really settled in the idea of maybe I could be an artist. The lessons those two taught me and their belief in me is what made me think I could be an artist. I didn’t end up going to college and decided to try to figure it out on my own. That makes me “self-taught” in the eyes of the art world but I always pay homage to the teachers I had. They gave me a great base to start with but it took a lot of work to figure out who I really was as an artist and what I wanted to say. Originally I wanted to be a sculptor but that wasn’t possible with my situation. I had nothing and just wanted to try and create as much as I could to try and build myself up. I was drawing a lot but switched to paint because it felt more professional in my uneducated mind. I don’t know that I was naturally a painter but I practiced at it really hard and for a very long time. I stopped drawing completely and did everything in paint, trying to get my head around that being my only way of communicating my thoughts. I used to make 2-3 paintings a day. In the 5 years I’ve been painting my current style I’ve made somewhere around 1200 pieces. Just now I’m finally getting comfortable with calling myself a painter. It didn’t feel like it was really me before but now I couldn’t live without doing it. I get really strange if I go more than a few days without painting something.

S: Can you share a bit about the process of creating your work? Are your pieces planned out with sketches or spontaneous expressions directly on your canvas? What materials do you use to create your works?  

D: For the personal work I make, I never plan or sketch before hand. I used to sketch always but not many of those ever got turned into paintings. They were more just practice in creating a composition. I keep things relatively simple in every element of creating, a bit out of circumstance and a bit out of wanting to challenge myself to get the most emotion out of as little as possible as I can. I use primed cotton canvas that I paint brown, people often think it’s raw canvas, Golden acrylic paints, I use 8 colors now which is a lot for me. I very rarely use the color straight from the tube though, I mix all my own colors. I have three brushes that I mainly use and a couple of Posca Pens for drawing the fine black lines. For me, I still feel like I’m learning so I limit the tools available until I feel I reached a limit with my ability to tell the stories I want and need to bring in another element to help me get there. 

S: I know we have talked a bit about it and I was surprised at some of the different ways you make marks (linear vs. fields of color for example). Your compositions look + feel so confident and decisive. Everything about your bold colors, shapes, negative space, and linear elements feels deliberate, with such a wonderful sense of both tension and balance. Do you have a personal lexicon for the shapes and colors you are using or is each painting it's own little world? I think sometimes it is a little intimidating to view and understand abstract art and I often find myself searching for representational elements within abstraction to ground the work. Do elements of your paintings refer to physical spaces and/or objects or are they more guided by concepts and/or feelings? Do you have specific things you wish the viewer to experience, understand, or think about when engaging with your work? What inspires your work?

D: When I started painting, I was scared and intimidated by it. Coming from drawing with pencils, it was such a more direct medium and it only has the mind you give it. Paint though, tends to have a mind of its own. There’s a small element of surprise that happens every time you put your brush to canvas. So it took a lot for me to overcome that feeling of not having any control. I got over it by giving into it. My work is mostly spontaneous in that it all happens in the moment. I just have a feeling for a color I want to try and create around, make a mark with that, and the rest of the painting is a reaction to that first mark. I feel that way I get the most honest work from myself. Without me over thinking and taking any heart away from the piece. Things tend to get lost in translation from sketch to painting for me so I stay away from that when I can. I used to sketch a lot just to build up my personal lexicon like you said, not so much in images I wanted to create, but to build up and practice new movements. I try not to make my work so much about the visual but it’s about the feeling you get from whatever is happening on the canvas. I’m not replicating any specific image, I try to create a composition and color palette that tells the story of an unspoken emotions that we feel. I’m not a very aloof person when it comes to creating though so I do it in a way where everything is very composed and intentional. My goal is to create an image that moves people in a way that might shake something loose inside of them. The distance between elements is very important guiding the viewer throughout the piece. I feel like it’s about taking them on a visual journey. We always feel different after we travel, I want to try and capture that in a painting. Distance is how far the elements are from each other but also it’s possible to add an element of depth to a piece. That is where color comes into play. Just as the mark making, the colors are all chosen spontaneously to react to whatever is happening in the piece. Everything happening in the moment adds to the tension of a piece. It’s my job to rectify that tension in a way where even though the piece may cause an uneasy feeling, there is some resolution and peace within that, some reassurance. Feeling a little lost in the chaos of life is the most human experience, that’s what inspires my work.

S: What does a typical day in the studio look like for you? Do you listen to music or podcasts while you work? Does what you listen to inform your painting process? Do you work on a single painting at a time or move between many works at once? Do you prefer drawing with traditional materials or do you create digital sketches?

D: I’m a morning person so I usually wake up and start painting early. As soon as the sun’s up I like to be painting. I’m a giant music lover, as evident with the playlist in the last newsletter. I hope people have been enjoying that by the way. I just like music for itself, it doesn’t influence my work too much, just my personal activity I guess. I could work in silence but I think my mind would get too loud and I couldn’t focus haha. No sketching as I’ve mentioned, unless I’m working on a commission. I’ve been really enjoying the process of sketching for those and have been thinking about incorporating it into my practice more. I love sketching with just a pen for the permanence of it. With digital, or even drawing with pencils, I fall into a bad habit of erasing things and that makes me indecisive and ultimately stunts my growth I feel. So a pen and my sketchbook is all I need.

S: Being a working artist often feels like a puzzle figuring out how to make and share work in a way that is sustainable, fulfilling, and financially viable. What's working for you right now? Do you sell paintings directly to collectors or work with galleries or a bit of both? Do you take commissions? Do you share your work in other ways, like commercial projects or other non-traditional or new formats like NFTs? Do you paint full-time or balance your creative work with other sources of income? Where can we find your work?

D: Yea, this has all been hard to figure out. When I first started painting I promised myself that I could only paint if I sold work to fund my practice. I never took any money from family or anything. I don’t even sell work to family for them to try and create a loophole haha. I give work away all the time if people really want it. I wanted to make sure I was able to handle the financial stress that comes along with being an artist. I try to do it as organically as possible just focusing on making work that hopefully excites people enough to buy it. I’ve had a lot of people tell me they are first time art buyers and I’m very honored by that. It means a lot. All of my sales and commissions are done with people who find my work and reach out. I don’t really do anything else. Just paint and hope people find them and buy them. I’ve been thinking about NFTs but there’s a weird stigma around them, I haven’t been about to reason why I should do them yet but I do have a good idea for one I think. I’m just now starting to work with a couple of galleries. You can find a few pieces of my at Quirk Gallery in Richmond, Virginia. You could also reach out online to them if anyone is interested. This is a bit of an exclusive only for you and your audience because you all have been so insanely kind to me. On June 1st, I’ll be announcing I’m working with Uprise Art, a gallery I’ve always loved and am so honored for the chance to work with! We’ll be releasing a collection of work then that will be available on their website. One thing that I’ve always done is try to keep my prices relatively low so it’s accessible to people kind enough to be interested in my work. I’m lucky that these two galleries I’m working with allow me to set my prices to the same prices I’d sell my work for through my own shop. I lose some money but this way I get to payback the galleries for giving me a chance and keep my work with reach for most people which is most important to me. 

S: If time and money weren't constraints, what would be your dream project?

D: I’ve always wanted to create large stone works. It would be my dream to get a giant workshop with giant stone pieces! Getting the chance to compose in that way and finding new ways to use color and actual space instead of the 2D space on a canvas, that would be my absolute dream.

S: What is your favorite thing to do outside of the studio?

D: I’ve kind of been only in the studio. I’m trying to get back to my old outdoor hobbies though. I like to shoot film photography, it’s a fun way to get outside of my head from painting. Also, I’m really into cars! But as mentioned before, I’m a full time artist so I have no money haha. So second best is I’m into my bike right now. I want to rebuild an old bike I find just as a project.

S: You have introduced me to some really incredible artists and their work through your generous sharing on Instagram. Can you share some artists you are really into right now?

D: There are so many! I’ll try to share a few instagram handles to check out; @eve.lippa, @noralowinsky, @evi_o, @geniespinosa, @tramoya_, @eunkm, @dyd_art, @howdy.ceramics, @jeansebpepin, @rachelle.mendez, @marieurbin, @samicronk, @dianaadili,  @joaniefaletto, @_ash_dye_, there are so many more!! Sorry if this is too much but I promise there are all amazing artists you won’t be disappointed in checking out.

Thank you so much for having me Sarah! Thank you so much for sharing, David!!