David Sirota
Originally from a small town in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, David Sirota is a 20-year-old artist and fashion designer. Inspired by daily scenery, Sirota is driven by immense creativity and the desire to create enigmas within his works.
David Sirota.
To learn more about David Sirota’s works follow him on his personal Instagram, fashion blog Instagram, fashion design Instagram or LinkedIn.
Even before learning how to read, David Sirota expressed his creativity through doodling letters, cartoons or faces. Initially, doodling was an impulse he could not resist; yet, with time, the free-minded form of expression became an essential element in the artist’s life. Supported by close family members, Sirota started attending art classes at ten years old. For that same class, an art show was organised resulting in one of his works being sold. This occurrence inspired the young Sirota to pursue his artistic journey, prompting him to take part in art classes throughout his entire academic career.
As a result, his passion for art and creativity continued to grow and eventually led him to enrol at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where he is currently studying Art History and Entrepreneurship surrounded by what he most admires.
Due to his curious nature in what concerns the act of creating, Sirota has explored a wide variety of mediums throughout his career including acrylics, oils, charcoal, ink, and watercolours. Through his experiments with such materials, Sirota found oil painting is the medium that provides him with enough space to explore his inventiveness because it allows him to modify, or undo, certain details within his works due to oil paint’s slow-drying properties. The effect of roughness and dirt working with charcoal produces is also a favourite, particularly when depicting natural environments.
“As I surrender to the pencils and brushes allowing them to take charge of my imagination and carry me, I look deep within myself and tap into my emotions and convictions.”
For Sirota, painting revolves around a mystery. Each brushstroke and touch of paint leads to an unknown path, creating an enigma around the work not only for the audience but also for the artist.
“The colours I use, the subjects I paint, the message I yearn to tell, or the things I want to question, all contribute to the depth of the mystery in my work.”
In particular, this sense of mystery resonates with works concerned with the human form. Starting with a blank canvas, Sirota progresses into deeper themes illustrating complex emotions and scenes from everyday life that feed into the sense of mystery imbued in his subjects. Through his paintings, the artist wishes to portray the liveliness of his subjects, stimulating a sense of curiosity in the viewer which is brought to find its own truth. In this, the artist feels the duty to open the doors of the viewers’ imagination leading them on a journey of their own discoveries and revelations.
David Sirota, Self-Portrait, 2019, oil on canvas.
In his oil on canvas Self-Portrait (2019), Sirota wished to experiment and defy expectations. By using an undeniably bright and vibrant shade of yellow as the dominant colour within the picture, the artist portrays himself as confident. However, he still integrates the notion of mystery by intentionally portraying himself with an enigmatic gaze. By doing so, he highlights human challenges around identity and the unknown aspect of the future.
“As a contemporary artist, I raise awareness for social change, question relationships between people, and explore my own identity through ar.t”
Highly influenced by Modernism, Sirota admires the groundbreaking ideas and innovations this movement brought to art history inevitably impacting contemporary art and artists today. In particular, Sirota is struck by how pioneering artists such as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Amedeo Modigliani, Salvador Dalí or Frida Kahlo broke away from traditional subject matter allowing artists, such as Sirota, to thrive in their art.
Having recently attended Parsons School of Design in Paris following courses in the Business of Fashion and The Fashion Design Process, Sirota was engaged in the world of fashion design. He was brought to learn how to cut fabric, and pin and drape garments on a mannequin stimulating his creativity and resulting in the creation of various pieces. From this experience, Sirota created his own clothing collection.
Deeply inspired by courtiers such as Azzedine Alaïa and Hubert de Givenchy, as well as visual art, Sirota mixed fashion and art in his first pieces. Inspired by former artistic experiments in mediums, he mixed hand paint and various textiles such as faux fur or muslin within the collection.
“Artwear is my new creative direction.”
As a young artist, Sirota is still exploring the full potential of his creativity. By mixing his long-standing passion for painting, inspired by the most influential pioneers of modern painting, and his newly discovered talent in fashion design, the artist is driven by his curiosity and passion. This feeds into the mystery: what will he create next?
Selected Exhibitions
2022
Parsons Paris/The New School, Paris, France
2019
New Wight Gallery Broad Art Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA
All the images are courtesy of the artist.
Beatrice Dalmasso
Emerging Artists, Co-Editor, MADE IN BED