Bananas, Crocs® & ceramics

He cares neither about scale nor realism; only the energy of the moment and the pleasure of painting prevail.
This apparent carefreeness is reflected in his ceramics, a craft he learned from other artists in the collective studio he shares in Liège.
There is no need to look for a particular logic linking the shapes and objects together, nor a connection between a banana, the Lacoste and BMW logos, chickadees, or a basketball.

Like the artists of the Figurations Libre movement, such as Robert Combas and François Boisrond, who in their early days painted accessible and popular subjects using a “sign-based” art form in reaction to the minimalist and conceptual art that dominated the 1970s, David Bruce attempts to bring the freshness and immediacy of street art to the more institutional art known as “contemporary,” which some people like to oppose without rhyme or reason.

In this sense, the artist says: “My palette is as limited as my subjects: ten colors maximum. A handful of bold colors that I use for everything. When you start out on the street, everything has to happen quickly. That sense of urgency has stayed with me.”
“Bananas, Crocs®, and Ceramics” is like those B movies that we love without really knowing why and that end up becoming cult classics in the eyes of everyone, probably because they have a unique flavor, color, and narrative.

If you ask him why Crocs®, David Bruce would probably answer that they’re simply ugly, but very comfortable to wear, and that he rarely takes his off in the studio.

Through this new collection of around fifteen paintings and ten ceramics, the artist reveals a little of his private life for the first time. He invites us into his studio and his home, introduces us to his partner Vanessa, and reveals the things that surround him and matter to him on a daily basis.