Abstract painter Michael David is best known for his use of encaustic, a technique that incorporates heated beeswax and pigment. Considered an inheritor of Abstract Expressionism, David’s abstract work primarily centers on the use of a densely layered surface to facilitate a direct and immediate spiritual experience.
David often incorporates religious iconography and symbolism, art historical themes such as the nude, and contemporary politics into his paintings resulting in a critical dialogue between the layered abstraction of the surface and the integrated representational imagery. Alongside his work on canvas, David has developed a body of studio photography that recreates paintings by Caravaggio, Manet, and Mantegna, among others, in works that confront racism, homophobia, and sexism.
David also works in mixed media and environmental sculpture, still within the horizon of his abiding concerns for sociopolitical questioning through art-making. His work is included in the public collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Denver Art Museum, Jewish Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Edward Albee Foundation and others.
Find original Michael David art on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by Renata Fine Arts)
The Navigator (Large)
By Michael David
Located in Phoenix, AZ
encaustic on Dibond b. 1954, Reno Nevada Abstract painter Michael David is best known for his use of encaustic, which incorporates pigment with heated beeswax. He discovered encau...
Wax, Encaustic
Untitled No. 63 Abstract Composition Mixed Media
By Michael David
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
Untitled No 63, abstract composition 1987 Mixed media on wood panel, wax, oil, paper. signed with initials, gallery label. Abstract painter Michael David is best known for his use of encaustic, a technique that incorporates heated beeswax and pigment. Considered an inheritor of Abstract Expressionism, David’s abstract work primarily centers on the use of a densely layered surface to facilitate a direct and immediate spiritual experience. He often incorporates religious iconography and symbolism, art historical themes such as the nude, and contemporary politics into his paintings resulting in a critical dialogue between the layered abstraction of the surface and the integrated representational imagery. Alongside his work on canvas, David has developed a body of studio photography that recreates paintings by Caravaggio, Manet, and Mantegna, among others, in works that confront racism, homophobia, and sexism. David also works in mixed media and environmental sculpture...
Oil, Paper, Wax, Wood Panel
Venus in Furs
By Michael David
Located in Phoenix, AZ
b. 1954, Reno Nevada Michael David's artwork is included in the public collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Guggenheim Museum in New York; the Jewish Museum ...
Mixed Media, Wax, Acrylic
All Good Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes - Giant Tondo
By Michael David
Located in Phoenix, AZ
encaustic on panel b. 1954, Reno Nevada Michael David is best known for his use of encaustic on large abstract paintings. A practitioner of Abstract Expressionism, David layers bees...
Wax, Encaustic, Oil, Wood Panel
For SRV (Large)
By Michael David
Located in Phoenix, AZ
encaustic on panel b. 1954, Reno Nevada Michael David is best known for his use of encaustic on large abstract paintings. A practitioner of Abstract Expressionism, David layers bees...
Encaustic, Wood Panel, Wax, Oil
Sand & Sea
By Michael David
Located in Phoenix, AZ
encaustic on panel b. 1954, Reno Nevada Michael David is best known for his use of encaustic on large abstract paintings. A practitioner of Abstract Expressionism, David layers bees...
Wood, Wax, Encaustic, Oil
All Good Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes
By Michael David
Located in Phoenix, AZ
encaustic on panel b. 1954, Reno Nevada Michael David is best known for his use of encaustic on large abstract paintings. A practitioner of Abstract Expressionism, David layers bees...
Wax, Encaustic, Wood Panel, Oil
The Navigator (Small)
By Michael David
Located in Phoenix, AZ
encaustic on panel b. 1954, Reno Nevada Michael David is best known for his use of encaustic on large abstract paintings. A practitioner of Abstract Expressionism, David layers bees...
Wood, Panel, Wax, Oil
Andrea Bonfils - Beehives, Painting 2017
By Andrea Bonfils
Located in Stamford, CT
Series: Beehives Beehives, Encaustic Beeswax, Fabric, Beehives Size: 18" x 46"/ 46" x 18" Using unconventional hardware - a blow torch, iron and other heated tools - along with pa...
Wax, Encaustic, Oil
Speedy Snoopy (Original Artwork On Wood Panel)
By Mauro Oliveira
Located in LOS ANGELES, CA
**STORE CLOSURE - UP TO 80% OFF - TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT** ***EVERYTHING MUST GO BY DECEMBER 31ST!*** >>The artist is moving to a new full time venture in 2026<< _________...
Acrylic, Wood Panel
$1,440Sale Price|20% Off
H 24 in W 24 in
"Multiverse #16" - Framed Geometric Contemporary Abstract Painting
By G. Campbell Lyman
Located in New Orleans, LA
Comes framed and ready to hang in black floater frame. Artist’s Statement: “These paintings are technically challenging, as they combine wax (encaustic), tar, oil, acrylic, powdered...
Lacquer, Charcoal, Wax, Oil, Acrylic, Graphite
$1,800
H 24 in W 24 in D 1.5 in
Dredging Up Memories, Original Contemporary Aquamarine and Red Abstract Painting
By Denise Presnell
Located in Boston, MA
Dredging Up Memories, Original Contemporary Aquamarine and Red Abstract Painting 24" x 24" x 1.5" (HxWxD) Oil and Cold Wax on Panel This square-format work by artist Denise Presnell...
Wax, Oil, Panel
$2,900
H 29 in W 29 in D 3 in
abstract 29/29, Original Signed Contemporary Neutral Abstract Encaustic Painting
By Michele Renée Ledoux
Located in Boston, MA
abstract 29/29, Original Signed Contemporary Neutral Abstract Encaustic Painting 29" x 29" x 3" Beeswax, Resin, Pigment, and Oil on Wood Panel Hand-signed by the artist in verso. A contemporary minimalist encaustic work by artist Michele Renée Ledoux...
Resin, Wax, Oil, Pigment, Encaustic
$1,600
H 20 in W 16 in
"Leaping Without Annette" (2023) by Amy Hutcheson, Abstract Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
"Leaping Without Annette" is an original, handmade oil painting on wood cradle, by Amy Hutcheson, that depicts an abstract painting with colorful geometr...
Wood Panel, Oil
$1,500
H 24 in W 18 in
Untitled (Remembered): Abstract Acrylic Painting on Wood Panel, 21st Century
By Jeremy Nichols
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This is an original painting on panel by artist Jeremy Nichols. The piece ships ready to hang in the pictured floater frame and measures 24in height x 18in width. The artist had recently focused on mainly graphite works in this style in recent years and this piece marks an exciting transition back to including paint and color in his process. Jeremy Nichols was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1982. He spent most of his youth in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio and traveling back and forth from Tokyo, Japan. After high school, he went to the Ohio State University to study Printmaking under Charles Massey...
Acrylic, Wood Panel
$780Sale Price|20% Off
H 15 in W 12 in
Carmen (Quadryptich Wood Panel Framed Contemporary Abstract Painting)
Located in New Orleans, LA
Artist's Statement: "Around 30 years ago, not long after I had started painting seriously, I was at a one-man exhibition of the great Brice Marden at the Fort Worth Museum of Modern...
Wax, Oil, Wood Panel
Landscape , 60x90 cm, oil on canvas
Located in Yerevan, AM
Landscape , 60x90 cm, oil on canvas
Canvas, Oil
$2,900
H 36 in W 36 in D 2 in
Lapis Light, Abstract Blue and Yellow Sunburst Mandala Painting, 36 x 36 inches
By Martin Benson
Located in New York, NY
Lapis Light (2025) by contemporary artist Martin Benson is a meditative mixed media painting on canvas that blends oil paint, wax medium, and crushed gemstones—lapis lazuli, turquois...
Precious Stone, Wax, Oil
Blue tree, 45x45cm, oil on canvas
By Fleur
Located in Yerevan, AM
Blue tree, 45x45cm, oil on canvas
Canvas, Oil
Post Concentric Episode Bone Diptych
By Kris Cox
Located in Phoenix, AZ
Pigment wood putty, acrylic, Dorland's wax medium on wood panel signature and year on verso Constructed paintings comprise the Concentric and Post Concentric Episode Series. They ar...
Wax, Acrylic, Wood Panel, Pigment, Putty
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being Large Abstract
By Michael David
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being modern large abstract. Abstract painter Michael David is best known for his use of encaustic, a te...
Encaustic, Oil, Board