“Self Portrait – Larry Bell Exhibit” David Palmquist, 2022

By Matthias Gat

The Boston-based painter discusses his style and inspirations, and reflects on the Greater Boston Area’s art community.

The arts have always played a significant role in David Palmquist’s life. Even while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in finance, his passion for art never faltered. His passion was nurtured further after moving to Boston, when he joined Vernon Street Studios in 2005. Since Palmquist took residency at Vernon Street Studios, he has had multiple exhibitions with the Copley Society, Somerville Open Studios, and others.

He aims to evoke feelings of nostalgia in his paintings by emphasizing warm tones and low fidelity that come with older photographs. His subjects will blur together, like they are a projection of someone’s memory that has gotten hazier over the years.

His subject matter tends to have this haziness built into it. His “Motion Blur” series takes advantage of a blurry photograph’s pre-existing abstraction, making the viewer question whether they are looking at a real picture or a painting.

“Crossmolina Blur,” David Palmquist, 2021

“Rolling Meadows 1,” David Palmquist, 2017

Palmquist’s “Satellite Imagery” series takes advantage of the abstractions from low-resolution satellite imagery. He says that having access to sites like Google Maps when they first came out allowed for a new way “to explore the world representationally.”

“Dallas Interstate Satellite 1,” David Palmquist, 2011

“Las Vegas Descent 4,” David Palmquist, 2017

While Palmquist has greatly enjoyed his residency at his studio, he notices that not many new artists are joining. The lack of new tenants reflects a larger issue of the Greater Boston Area becoming too expensive for artists to move into.

“Artists will move in when things are cheap,” Palmquist says, “but the movement they usher in ends up pricing them out.”

He stresses the importance of building a community for artists, especially physical spaces in the form of studios or public art displays. He hopes to see more advocacy for the creation of these spaces in the future.

At the same time, he emphasizes that one of art’s most important qualities is how accessible it is. “Explore what you have immediately available,” he says, “what’s great is you can start at any level.”

If you are interested in seeing more of Palmquist’s work, you can visit his website: https://www.spraylux.com/index.html.