David Skillicorn

"The real purpose of painting is to give pleasure. My work is an expression of joy. Joy in color. Joy in gesture. Joy in the act of creating itself."

––David Skillicorn, Painter

American abstract painter David Skillicorn sees painting as pure celebration. For more than 25 years, Skillicorn has dazzled clients with his luminous abstract artworks. Recently, the painter has been exploring the complex spatial and color relationships of floral abstracts. Soft, sensual, and expansive, Skillicorn’s flowers breathe elegance, calm, joy, and exquisite beauty. 

Interestingly,  David Skillicorn is a veteran documentary filmmaker whose Emmy award winning career spanned 25 years. It was through film and cinematography that the artist not only fine tuned his eye for artistic detail and composition, but uncovered a passion for painting. While filming a story about artists on Cape Cod, he met up with a talented painter at dawn to document his artistic process. As Skillicorn filmed, the artist set up his blank canvas, and with just five or six strokes, created a breathtaking work of art. This act of creation sent chills of amazement and inspiration through Skillicorn’s body. Though it had never occurred to him before, this single, somatic artistic experience moved the filmmaker to himself become a painter.

Subscribing to the idea that ‘in order to learn how to paint, one ought to look at 10,000 paintings, and paint 1,000 oneself', Skillicorn continues to draw inspiration from contemporary abstract artists like Mark Rothko, Gerhart Richter, and Larry Poons. For the past 25 years, Skillicorn has been drawn to abstract painting because, for him, it is the most challenging, the most mysterious, and ultimately, the most magical. 

Skillicorn exhibits regularly throughout the states. His paintings are part of impressive public and private collections, including Pfizer Inc, Temple University, Intel, and the homes of many private collectors worldwide.