Counterintuitively, David Gluck was a painter before taking up tattooing a little more than a decade ago. While skin is a completely different substrate and ink a far cry from oil paint, the skills must be transferrable to some degree because there is a wait-time of nine months to get an appointment with him.
Gluck and his wife, Kathryn Stone, also a fine artist who took up tattooing with her husband, now own their own shop on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, with views of the ocean.
The Approach, oil on panel, 13 x 20"
“Now we kind of get to have our cake and eat it too,” he says. “We get to make the best paintings we want to make and we don’t have the pressure we used to in the past when we didn’t have a secondary income.”
Today they have two young children, live on a property with a pond, and are a stone’s throw from a lake and the ocean.
“I’ve really got it made,” he says. “I have gotten everything I want out of life. I love where I live and am making the art I want to make. At this point, I’m just running out the clock.”
The bulk of Gluck’s tattoos are dark—skeletons, ghouls, beasts and other frightening beings. But talking to Gluck, you quickly realize his tattoo art does not at all reflect his personality. “I’m goofy and happy and loud and annoying,” he laughs. He finds satisfaction in the tattoo work because he can take on subject matter that wouldn’t be well-received in the fine art market.
Wander, oil on panel, 14 x 20"
“People forget you have to have fun with art,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun to make an image of Freddy Kreuger. You get to do some really weird subject matter in tattooing and I enjoy that. For some reason I do love that aesthetic—death, decay and darkness—and sometimes have to remind myself not to go too Mad Max or stark in my paintings.”
Many of Gluck’s earlier figurative works do have a haunting quality, but his current fine art focus is landscapes. Atmospheric and tonal in a manner that recalls works by the Hudson River School of painters, they transport the viewer to a place that exists between the real and ethereal.
In fact, they are not specific sites but composites that take shape from his imagination, life studies, Photoshop—anything that will help him achieve the painting he wants to create.
The Way Home, oil on panel, 16 x 12"
“I was never thrilled with the idea that you have to paint a specific spot,” he says. “I would rather create an imaginary realm…realistic with a slightly uncanny feel. A sense of wonder is what I’m hoping for—I’d rather people not ask ‘where is that?’ I like to create places I would want to be in.”
Gluck’s shift to landscapes was in part due to the pandemic, when spending time with people outside the home was curtailed, and found he enjoyed it.
“I found more creative freedom within the genre,” he explains. “With landscapes you can play with color and texture more. When you’re doing a figure you’re thinking about what they’re doing and what story you want to tell. With landscapes there are so many places to see, so many places to invent. A cloud has to be structured like a cloud but doesn’t have to be a cloud.”
Light of the Solstice, oil on panel, 12 x 16"
It has been a long time since Gluck has partnered with a gallery. The couple had grown disillusioned with the art market, having been burned several times, and the lack of a steady income made it difficult to realize their dreams of starting a family.
But Gluck recently signed with RJD Gallery and will be having his first solo show, Soul of the Earth, in Romeo, Michigan, from September 4 through October 2.
“RJD was really enthusiastic,” says Gluck. “They really put in a lot of effort and I appreciate their hustle. I feel like I meshed well with them and, just from my initial interactions, it’s been really positive.” —
RJD Gallery 227 N. Main Street • Romeo, MI 48065 • (586) 281-3613 • www.rjdgallery.com
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