Interview by Jimon

1-Where do you currently reside and work?  About one year ago, I traded my native city of Antwerp, Belgium for the beautiful light and the inspiring pace of the French Provence. I currently live in a small village called Joucas (population 350), where I also have my artist’s studio, with a stunning view over my beautiful garden and the mountains that surround my house.

2-How would you describe Dave Schweitzer?  There is no difference between Dave Schweitzer the artist and Dave Schweitzer the man. My personal and professional lives are interwoven. Thus, my art reads like a diary. I am an open book, for those who can read.

3-Did you attend an art school or is it inherent?  I am an autodidact. Over the years, many people have told me it was a good thing that I didn’t attend any art school. Because I just do what I want, and make what I want to make, without having rules or inhibitions. When I hear the public or curators talk about the techniques I use, or how this or that composition is in balance etc., I always respond with the same answer: Yes, that may well be, I just did whatever I felt like doing. I paint and draw with my guts.

4-How long have you been making art and what lead you to start?  I made my first painting in 1999. An artist friend inspired me to pick up a brush and start making art. He took me to the art supply store, and the same day I just started painting. My first two works were sold before they were finished. I saw that as an encouragement to continue. I haven’t stopped since then.

5-How did you acquire your style?  By experimenting. The ongoing making of art has been like home schooling. I blend various techniques, work with multiple mediums, and cover different styles. Therefore there is not exactly one name to describe what I do. As I put it on my Instagram: “Abstract, abstract im-/expressionist, conceptual, gestural, minimalistic, action painting, soak-stain and then some. I’ll leave the rest to the public, the critics, the galleries and the curators.”

6-Have you ever come across a piece of art that you could not or did not want to stop looking at?  I’ve cried two times in my life just by seeing an artwork. The first one was a colossal photograph by Russian artist Sergey Bratkov, depicting fighting children at a boarding school. The second time was in the Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, where I just started weeping at the sight of Michelangelo’s Pietà. While visiting a big Mark Rothko exhibition in The Netherlands, I felt strong emotions too, but they were different, almost religious. How’s that for an atheist? The last time I was in awe before a painting, was at Christie’s in New York City, last fall. Andy Warhol’s “Sixty Last Suppers” just blew me away. I stood in line to see Da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” as well. Very disappointing and highly overrated, just like the Mona Lisa.

7-Tell us something about the art world that you want to see changed?  I would like to remind some galleries that they actually NEED artists to make a living, so they should treat them properly. Let’s not forget that it is the gallery that works for the artist, not the other way around.

8-Why make art?  Because I can.

9-The future is _________?  Bright. I see great things happening in the future that will make our lives easier, so we will have plenty of time left to live and do the things we love to do. Things that really matter. On the other hand, Armageddon is just around the corner, but I’m OK with that.

10-What is your thought on the following statement; Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable!  Art doesn’t have to do anything, except, touch you. But then again, even that is not completely true. If I want to be loyal to my beliefs, I would have to say that art doesn’t have to do anything. Period. Art is not for everyone. There is no judge in this universe that the artist creates. In the perfect universe of the perfect artist, there are simply no judges. Not even the artist himself. There are only judges in the hostile outside world. Where humans live who buy and sell art, where art is an investment and a status symbol.

11-Are you trying to send a message through your art or is it purely for inspiration?  In 2001, I made a series of paintings called “POSITIVE”. They were made with the blood of HIV positive donors. When the project first came out, fifteen paintings had been made, each with the blood of another donor. Fourteen of them with HIV+ blood, and one with my own, negative blood. The message was: “Can you tell the difference between positive and negative when you look at the paintings?” Of course not, so don’t treat people with HIV or aids any differently, don’t stigmatize. We are all humans. The participants, the public and the media loved the project, because it made people talk about the disease in another way. It was not just about numbers, but real people with real lives. Stained blood made into something beautiful as art. I’ve just started a second series, entitled “Still Positive”, because 17 years later not much has changed in regards to how people think about HIV and aids. Donors wanted, by the way. They can contact me for all the info. You could call this a socially engaged, conceptual art project. Although I hate the term socially engaged. However most of the time, there is absolutely no message, only expressed feelings and emotions.

12-What advice would you give putative collectors?  Follow your feelings. Don’t let yourself be told what to buy and when to buy and from whom. Just a suggestion, but maybe it’s an idea to buy art from actually living artists. The dead ones don’t need the money anyways.

13-What’s the best advice you’ve ever received in regards to your art?  I never take advice when it comes to my art.

14-How do you define success?  Getting paid for what you love doing the most. Have enough to be free, not to be decadent, and getting recognition from your peers.

15-Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration?  My mind.

16-If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table?  Andy Warhol, Salvador Dalí and Cy Twombly.

17-Name three things you can’t live without in your studio?  First, there is music. I absolutely need loud music when painting or drawing. Can be anything from The Ramones, The Cramps, Die Antwoord to Bach’s toccata and fugue in D minor, some Paganini, or an opera by Händel. As long as it has balls and is played really loud. The second thing is my antique cozy chair, to take a break, light one up and look at my work. Lastly an ashtray. There should always be an ashtray.

18-How would someone find you on Social Media?  By typing my name in Google.

-this interview was conducted June 2018-