David Fought

BIO


EDUCATION

  • 2004

    California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

  • 1998

    New College of California, San Francisco, CA

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2024

    Cut/Form, with Maritta Tapanainen, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA

  • 2023

    45+ Anniversary show, Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO

  • 2022

    Group Show, Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO

  • 2021

    Applied Matter, Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO

  • 2019

    Curvilinearity, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA

  • 2013

    Elemental Lines, installation at 505 Montgomery, San Francisco, CA

  • 2012

    Selected Works: An Installation, littlebigspace, Albany, CA

  • 2010

    Small Moves, ampersand international arts, San Francisco, CA

  • 2007

    3 (5)wires and 5 (3)sides, ampersand international arts, San Francisco, CA

  • 2004

    Non Specific Objects, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA

  • 2003

    Wire, Revolution Art Bar, San Francisco, CA

  • 1998

    Structure/Meaning, NCoC Gallery, San Francisco, CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2017

    Neverending Summer, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
    Along the Lines, Firehouse Art Center, Pleasanton, CA

  • 2016

    Plus One, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA

  • 2015

    Project 6: David Fought and Matthew Neil Gehring, c2c Project Space, San Francisco, CA
    New Abstraction, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA

  • 2014

    Inspire Artists Who Inspire You, ProArts, San Francisco, CA

  • 2013

    Traces and Accumulations, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
    Thinking Like the Universe, K. Imperial Fine Art, San Francisco, CA

  • 2012

    Materials + Process, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA

  • 2010

    Blurring The Line, Kala Art Institute Gallery, Berkeley, CA

  • 2011

    22 Annual Juried Show, Curated by Elisebeth Sussman, Viridian Artists, New York, NY

  • 2009

    Contemporary 2009, Colorado Center for the Arts, Grand Junction, CO
    Handcrafted, Rocky Mount Arts Center, Rocky Mount, NC

  • 2007

    The Most Curatorial Biennial of the Universe, Apex Art, New York, NY

  • 2006

    Discreet Gestures, 301 Bocana Gallery, San Francisco, CA

  • 2005

    Bay Area Bazaar, Pullium Deffenbaugh Gallery, Portland, OR

  • 2003

    Selections, North/South Gallery, Oakland, CA
    Special Ops and Lollipops, Build Gallery, San Francisco, CA
    Andandandand, A21 Gallery, Oakland, CA

  • 2002

    House of Red, Platform Gallery, San Francisco, CA

  • 1997

    For the Love of Mike, Gillman Street Gallery, Berkeley, CA

  • 1994

    Real Wet Paint, Victoria Room, San Francisco, CA

  • 1993

    Come As You Are, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  • 2014

    Kenneth Baker, “ArtMarket: The game’s in the name,” SFGate, May 16, 2014.

  • 2013

    Alex Bigman, “Materials in Procession”, East Bay Express, July 31, 2013. Lutz, Leora, “Traces and Accumulations’ at Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley”, SFAQ, May 2013.

  • 2010

    Cheng, DeWitt, “Uncategorical Imperatives at Kala Gallery,” East Bay Express, November 24, 2009.

  • 2009

    “Space Man Artist,” Street Index, January 21, 2009.

  • 2007

    “David Fought at Ampersand International Gallery,” Visual Art Source, September 2007. Vogel, Traci, “David Fought: ‘3(5)wires and 5(3)sides’,” SF Weekly, September 5, 2007.

HONORS & AWARDS

  • 2009

    Artist Affiliate Program, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA

About the Work

I bend metal rod into geometric shapes--triangles, circles, curved rectangles--then fill negative spaces with plaster to explore the mysterious interplay of natural forces, how primal elements cohere into patterns and forms.

Underived from drawings or photographs, these objects arise from my engagement with the physical world and desire to uncover the authentic object. Observing what’s at hand--concrete rain gutters, steel girders supporting a freeway, a dental molar extracted during childhood, the flow of a creek broken by rocks--I'm not interested in a story or explanation, but how these phenomena create a moment of visual quietness.

Agnes Martin said her paintings are not about what’s seen but what’s known forever in the mind. Similarly, I study surfaces to divine what's underneath, to understand what gives objects their presence, to discover what invites us inside--to look and re-look at the object and find its simple gesture. Both rough-hewn and diaphanous, recognizable yet unknown, these works become more aware, more expressive of themselves. They may even seem to breathe.