David Crawford's works are as much about texture as they are about form. "Aging, wear, and decay are textures of a rural life. The hasty and even whimsical mis-application of materials employed to repair derelict structures and equipment speak of lives lived, of hardship and of optimism. As frugality directs ingenuity, many objects seem to reveal the souls of those who use them and keep them working."
"One recurrent theme in my work has been the issue of dominance, whether it be in reference to man’s relationship with animals or societal relationships within our own species. I see my work as documenting the slow grind from a time when 'might takes right', to what may be a more equitable future. Issues of class, gender, ethnicity, and treatment of animals are on a collision course with a new politic. While many of my early pieces were not so subtle forays into this great debate, I’ve come to see that confrontation in its more direct form, more often leads to deadlock than to dialogue. As the Jester can speak truth to power, I see the comedy in my work as a bit of sugar to help sweeten what can be a bitter pill."
"I don’t make my art for artists, and I don’t try to confuse anyone. Despite all the complexities of modern life, our emotions are as simple as ever. We laugh, we cry, we hope, we despair. We delight in things I make art about." more...
Welcome to the Gallery
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| 'Bell Mare' |  |
| 'Nude Sketch' |  |
| 'Swamp Horse' |  |
| 'Lucy' |  |
"As an artist, I’ve been inspired by people and things both in and outside the 'fine arts' disciplines, but I probably owe as much to my rural upbringing and surroundings as to any other influences for the images I produce."
"Growing up living and working among cattle ranchers, art was not really the kind of thing that one should take too seriously. So, initially, I tried to focus my creative energy on functional objects, such that I be considered useful. But time would inevitably lead me to make things that had no purpose whatsoever."
David Crawford was born in 1955 in Walla Walla, WA and grew up in rural southeast Oregon in Adel and later Lakeview. He worked on the MC Ranch for a hay contractor during the summers until he graduated from high school. He received a bachelors degree in Art from Eastern Oregon University in 1979, he married Victoria Thew and he began his early art career in Portland, OR.
In late 1981, he moved to Enterprise, OR where both of her sons were born. Working in furniture at first, he began in 1986 to work primarily in bronze.
In 1993, he and his family moved to Halfway, OR where he currently maintains his studio and foundry for casting his works.
He recently completed a grouping of life-sized clown sculptures that consumed much of the last four years.