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David Schmitt It Was The Bird For Sale

David Schmitt
David Schmitt - It Was The Bird, 2025, Mixed media on canvas

It Was The Bird, 2025

Mixed media on canvas

31 1/2 x 39 3/8 in 80 x 100 cm

David Schmitt's "It Was The Bird" presents a compelling narrative frozen in pigment, capturing a moment of deflection or perhaps accusation that feels both intimate and universally recognizable. The canvas depicts a figure whose gesture or gaze directs attention elsewhere, implicating an unseen avian presence in some unnamed transgression. Schmitt renders his subject with the technical confidence that defines his practice, balancing representational clarity with painterly passages that remind us we are looking at constructed surface rather than mere reproduction. The work operates in an emotional register somewhere between humor and vulnerability, suggesting childhood excuse-making or the adult tendency to externalize blame. There is something disarming in the title's declarative simplicity, its insistence carrying the weight of someone who knows they won't quite be believed. Schmitt's palette and brushwork create an atmosphere that holds tension between confession and performance, allowing viewers to locate themselves within the psychological drama unfolding across the composition. Within Schmitt's broader practice, "It Was The Bird" demonstrates his continued interest in figurative work that probes human behavior and social dynamics without didacticism. His subjects often exist in states of emotional exposure, caught in moments that feel stolen rather than posed. The mixed media approach adds textural complexity, grounding the image in materiality while the narrative lifts toward something more elusive and open to interpretation. This work would resonate with collectors drawn to contemporary figuration that combines technical accomplishment with psychological depth and wry observational intelligence.

Price on Application

Auction History

David Schmitt - Mounted Horsemen Traversing The Countryside

Mounted Horsemen Traversing The Countryside · David Schmitt · Waddingtons · 2012-12 · $0

Riders halt at a cottage · David Schmitt · Nagel Auktionen · 2006-12 · $1,556

David Schmitt - Military camp

Military camp · David Schmitt · Christie's · 2001-05 · $5,366

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