David Baird (b. 1986, USA) is an oil painter and draftsman focused primarily on figurative work. While inspired by subject matter familiar to art history, his work is equally motivated by the translation of perception into painting, a process by which the sensuality of experience is in constant tension with the materiality of paint. Benefitting from extensive exposure to some of Europe's greatest works of art, the artist has traveled broadly. He has attended classes throughout the US and Europe, including Ryder Studio School (NM, USA), the Art Students League (NYC, USA), Studio Escalier (FR), and the Jerusalem Studio School (Jerusalem, IL). In 2019, the artist was awarded the Avigdor Arikha Masterclass Scholarship to continue his studies in Italy. He has participated in numerous exhibitions, including the inaugural exhibition Memento Vivere in 2021, celebrating the reopening of the historic Lyme Academy in Lyme, CT. In 2022, he won first prize in the New York Figurative Show at the prestigious Salmagundi Club in New York, NY, and was subsequently invited to exhibit in the first ever Hartley Invitational at the same institution. Most recently his work was featured alongside some of the most prominent figurative artists working today in the show Beyond Description, a dual-gallery exhibition taking place simultaneously in Seattle, WA and New York, NY. The artist is represented by Tregony Gallery in London, UK, and Mary Woerner Fine Arts in West Palm Beach, FL. He currently lives and works in Birmingham, Alabama.