Local physician-turned-artist David Weldon’s unique and bold works range from simple drawings to carefully curated photographs.
His current collection “Abstractions” can be found displayed on the second floor of the Iowa City Senior Center. It was first displayed on Aug. 8, and will have a closing reception on Sept. 29.
After reaching out to multiple community centers in hopes of having his work showcased, Weldon was happy to accept the Iowa City Senior Center’s invitation to display his collection.
Weldon noted his inspiration for the collection was simply the division of space and, after experimenting with space in each project, he discovered an arrangement satisfying to the eye.
His piece “Autumn Returns,” for example, contains a photo of eyes layered on top of a photo of a stone birdbath full of water with fallen leaves coating its surface. The leaves’ striking colors catch the eye, almost overshadowing the eyes even though they are just as present in the piece.
The separation of the two images was stark. While the piece was very divided in its color contrast of the black background against the light blue, the division came from how the birdbath stops the viewer from seeing the full face of the man in the background.
“Everything here is an original drawing, a found clipping, or a photograph,” he said. “I don’t have a studio, so I turned the computer into a studio,” he said.
According to Weldon, when he becomes bored with one project, he’ll move on to the next, leading to a rapid production of art in different forms.
“They are my children,” Weldon said. “They are budded off of me like clones.”
Technology plays an important role in his artistic process. After capturing photos and using graphite on paper for the drawings, he fuses them together in Photoshop for the final touches.
The works in Weldon’s collection range from giclée prints — a method of reproducing media through an inkjet printer — to photocopied prints.
“What you saw today are giclée prints, but when photocopying machines became available, artists began using them to make works,” Weldon said of his works in the senior center.
He noted the message behind “Autumn Returns” as well as reflected in its imagery.
“It’s like you’re sitting in the forest glade and the light changes,” Weldon said. “You see details in the scenery that weren’t there before.”
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Two of his pieces are unexpectedly connected to each other. In his piece “Crocodiles on Primrose,” there is a photographed set of legs layered on top of a colorful floral background. Weldon said the legs belonged to a physician he had known ever since he first donned a lab coat for the first time.
Weldon said that the eyes at the top of the “Autumn Returns” also belonged to the aforementioned physician.
Weldon ultimately portrayed the message that artists, when showcasing their work, choose to become vulnerable, baring their personalities to the public in a way they feel they can most express themselves.
“Everything is a self-portrait,” Weldon said. “I think the works answer that.”