david hornung

JUNE 13 - JULY 12, 2026

“Because when I’m falling, I’m doing all right; when I’m slipping, I say, hey, this is interesting! It’s when I’m standing upright that bothers me: I’m not doing so good; I’m stiff. As a matter of fact, I’m really slipping, most of the time, into that glimpse. I’m like a slipping glimpser.” — Willem DeKooning

The most difficult part of improvisational painting, for me, is learning to embrace feeling lost.

My paintings are never based on a preparatory sketch or plan. I usually begin with quickly painted shapes, lines, or a configuration. It’s a casual, energetic start: a proposition to contend with. I seldom find much to commit to in the early stages, but once I’m locked in, I try to sharpen my focus without snuffing out the life of the original image. If I suspend judgement and maintain an open, playful attitude, unexpected pathways emerge, and I can find my way forward.

When I too quickly feel a sense of control, I get suspicious. I’m trading on what I already know; not discovering. When this happens, I need to kill the lovely thing so the unexpected thing can come into view. It takes a surprising number of adjustments in color and design along with layering, blotting, scraping, and sanding to arrive at a resolution.

This is how I make the painting real.