Our hobby is all about making dreams come true. There are those among us who can actually dream the dream and make it appear on paper, canvas, or sandpaper (yes, even sandpaper). For the rest of us this work is well outside our abilities, but for the precious few who are true artists-those who can actually express their dreams on a canvas for the rest of us to admire-it's magic. Looking into an artist's dream is when we can say, "That's how I want my car to look!"
Dav3 Kurz, living in Englewood, Colorado, has been around the art scene for 12-plus years. As a young boy Dav3 created his trademark signature using a backward "E," signing his youthful artwork "Dav3" with no last name, but now he uses his complete name on all his work
In high school, Dav3 took every opportunity to study art. After high school he intended to go to art school. But in 1974, partially due to his obsession with automobiles, Dav3 became a car salesman, selling Corvettes and specialty cars for 11 years and Mercedes and BMWs for years after that. All through the '80s he hadn't done any artwork, but by '90 he decided he'd try his hand at it and was surprised he could still do it.
By '92 Dav3 had become a member of Denver's Art Students League and began taking formal art classes. By '93, demand for his work allowed Kurz to quit his day job and devote all his time to his art. Although he describes himself as "your basic hot rodder," Dav3's automotive interests are quite varied. Having owned some 60 cars (from a Bugeye Sprite to 15 different customized Chevy pickups), he can pull images from his imagination from almost any decade.
But what separates Kurz's work from that of most any other working artist is that he works on sandpaper-fine-grit sandpaper-instead of canvas. The work covers a wide range of subjects, but is always car related, and it seems he likes the same types of cars we do, so the following is a mini-interview conducted by Brian Brennan to help us get to know the man behind the canvas. KC
KC: How do you start your initial compositions?
KURZ: I use an HB (grade) charcoal pencil to do a relatively loose sketch on my sandpaper surface. This initial sketch usually takes four to six hours depending on the complexity of the piece.
KC: Do you always draw real places?
KURZ: The simple answer is yes. I try to include lots of highly accurate detail in the central subject of my paintings while retaining a softer, more impressionistic look to the backgrounds. This causes my paintings to fall loosely into the category of photorealism, and there is an old saying in photorealism that I've always tried to keep in mind: "The more you make up, the more made up it looks."
KC: What about people in your paintings?
KURZ: I like to think of the car as just one of the characters in the painting, so whenever possible, I try to include people in my paintings. On the morning of our shoot, I photograph the cars in numerous arrangements and then place the two of them, moving them around as well.
KC: Do you make things up out of your imagination or do you work from photographs?
KURZ: I work from photographs, but that is an overly simple explanation to a more complicated process. I am seldom without my camera because I never know when I might see something I can use in a future painting, and in order to keep things from looking made up, I always start with good clear photos of my central subject. Most paintings begin just this way: A vehicle I've photographed in a parking lot is placed into a scene using background photos I've shot in other locations. To make sure my ideas will work, I usually do very loose preliminary pencil sketches on newsprint to be certain the elements of several photographs can successfully be combined to create a scene and tell a story.
KC: What happens when you have worked out your ideas in charcoal?
KURZ: Once all the composition decisions have been made, I'm ready to transfer my ideas to my working surface.
KC: What do you "paint" with?
KURZ: All my paintings are done with pastels.
KC: What exactly is a pastel?
KURZ: If you hold a piece of pastel in your hand, it looks like a stick of chalk, but it's not-chalk is limestone-based, and pastel is dry paint pigment held together with a binder in stick or pencil form
KC: What do you use as a canvas for your creations?
KURZ: I work on 2,000-grit wet and dry sandpaper mounted to acid-free mat board.
KC: How long does one of your works take to finish?
KURZ: It takes about 150 to 180 hours, or three to four weeks, to complete a medium-size painting. The detailed areas are very time consuming, taking approximately one hour per square inch! The more detail, the longer it takes.
KC: How does one see your work if not in person?
KURZ: Anyone can call me or go to my Web site and see my numbered and limited-edition prints, as well as some of the original artwork for sale. KC