David Berkowitz Chicago Draws From The Beauty of Childhood

Childhood can give us many things, including beautiful landscapes of play and memories of outdoor joy.

This is exactly what drives David Berkowitz Chicago to paint so beautifully. 

As a lifelong student of the outdoors, David Berkowitz Chicago uncovered his potential as a painter in his early childhood. He has now been painting for over fifty years. Although he did not complete a formal education in painting, he became a central figure in Illinois. His art is now known all over the world as being mystical and magnificent. His paintings often reflect the vast landscapes where he grew up. His canvases are full of youth and vibrancy, showing nature with a childlike glow. 

But Berkowitz began his journey in the crucible of personal pain. In 1969, Berkowitz uncovered his affection for painting after a severe injury to his spine while playing football. While in recovery, he started to produce various works of art. This is when he first felt the burning desire to create. Now, David Berkowitz Chicago has been involved in almost 200 exhibitions worldwide. A dramatic journey of perseverance to say the least. 

David has been exhibiting at galleries for nearly 50 years. In 1983, he exhibited at the Mona Lisa Gallery in Paris and painted ceramics for the famous Rosenthal Company. In 2019, David Berkowitz Chicago made large curtains for the Tokyo Theater and the Museum of Modern Art in Urawa, Japan. Through the years, he has received awards from a number of national and international competitions with his Chicago studio. 

He’s a student of the classical artistic giants of Europe and the Americas. During David Berkowitz Chicago’s years in production, he has combined several elements of surrealism and realism. His work is now seen as fairy-tale-like as he combines nature and fantastical elements with only brush strokes. The places David remembers from his youth still inspire him. The ethereal landscape from his memory such as hazy banks, traveling up the legendary river, shacks on the floodplain, and the barns where he felt safe as a youngster. The hen houses where he talked with chickens as a young boy are also included in his distinctive paintings.

David Berkowitz Chicago turns to his childhood farmlands for inspiration. He grew up in these vast landscapes. Because of this, the plants and foliage appear in his works, and because of the open fields he grew up in, wild horses are often featured in his works. The wild horses are meant to watch over the sky and the farm, and serve as something of an otherworldly guide.

David Berkowitz Chicago creates a connection between the old and the new. In the beginning, David Berkowitz Chicago’s paintings were not as popular. In retrospect, this is something to be grateful for. If he had sold his earlier paintings, he might not have been able to refine his artform to the extent that we see now. David Berkowitx Chicago now works on paintings for buyers that have already purchased the piece. 

Even later in life, he maintains a childlike joy in his work. David Berkowitz Chicago paints the blissful moments in life. Whether he uses pastels or oil, the pieces that are produced are surreal. He takes everyday life and turns the landscape into something triumphant. David Berkowitz Chicago’s pieces are now quite expensive, and sadly, not everyone can afford to have them in their own personal space. He wishes that they were somehow more accessible. 

I’m not too keen on winning awards as they tend to symbolize the end of something, but I suppose they do provide some notoriety and confirmation that the work is still being seen and enjoyed,” says David Berkowitz Chicago. David Berkowitz Chicago recently received a lifetime reward from the Chicago Gallery of Artists for his 50th anniversary as an artist. “