David Mesite

American artist David Mesite was born in Connecticut in 1951. He completed his formal art training at Paier College of Art in 1973 with a degree in Fine Art and Graphic Design. Mesite was an art director at AT&T for almost 30 years. During that time he began showing his paintings, and was a member of the New England Watercolor Society and The Lyme Art Association. He is an award-winning painter and has had many one man shows in Connecticut and on Cape Cod at Addison Art Gallery where he has been represented exclusively for the last 20 years.

Mesite has a unique ability for seeing the most interesting visual aspects of ordinary situations that he develops into uncluttered, often single subject, dramatic compositions. Finding the perfect objects in their natural environment or developing a studio concept from images he combines in unique ways from his vast library of images and elements he has collected from his travels is as exciting to him as the actual drawing and painting of the finished art. He has mastered the techniques and disciplines of watercolor medium as well as the freedom found working in oils. Mesite applies the principals and practices of realistic painting, including detailed drawings, deliberate compositions, with shadows, texture, and atmosphere, to achieve the level of detail and sensitivity he strives for in his work.

Always asking himself the most important questions of each painting — does it have a pulse, have I conveyed my thoughts, and does it feel like I can walk right into the art, Mesite spends countless hours and days studying place or a subject until it becomes a painted story the way he wants to tell it. He has a strong connection to nautical scenes from time spent on the Cape and shorelines across New England. His paintings are hanging in corporate and private collections throughout the United States and his work has been featured in national magazines.

“I will never stop looking for an everyday object or that interesting place it exists, that I can elevate into a masterful thought provoking piece of art that the viewer will enjoy the same way I did while creating it.

“I strive to present sharp detail in my art in a relaxed more expressive way. I think I have gotten past the craft of painting and now enjoy the emotions while painting. It’s not how to paint, it’s what to paint and why.” — David Mesite

Artist's Statement

I want to produce art that pleases me for many personal reasons. Then, if it pleases the viewer, I’m glad. I’ve always had a fascination for art. I attended art school at age eighteen and haven’t regretted one day since. My family have always been very supportive of my career as well as being my best critics.

“It is very difficult to accurately convey to other collectors the talent of David Mesite... Part Andrew Wyeth, part the late Garry Gilmartin and, yes, even a hint of JMW Turner’s treatment of Lake Lucerne in “The Blue Rigi, Sunrise.” The translucence and opaqueness that Mesite can display is what makes his complexity so enjoyable. With oils, the painter gets to come back to re-work his initial efforts, perhaps several times. But with watercolors, it is a direct translation from the artist’s mind to the paper. It is, in golfer parlance, one swing for the green on a par-3 hole and no mulligans!” — David Matthews, A Dallas, Texas Collector