Seagulls fly and caw around a humorously sized fishing boat and lobsterman in the painting Some Lumpy by David Witbeck. Bold blues make up the rolling waves and clear sky as the boat bobs in the water. Colorful buoys add to the piece’s comical proportions—a defining aspect of Witbeck’s work.
Born in New York, Witbeck grew up in Rochester, where his earliest memories of being on the water took place on the Hudson River and Erie Canal. He learned to sail in a Cape Dory Typhoon and later owned a Marshall catboat. Always interested in painting and drawing, Witbeck attended the Rhode Island School of Design from 1965 to 1969. He says he became a “ridiculously young father” and turned his focus to photography in the 1970s. He didn’t paint again until 2000.
While sometimes inspired by a photograph he’s taken, Witbeck’s works are mostly imagined. He began painting fishermen with large hands and tiny heads because the perspective of a wide-angle camera lens had a similar effect. Witbeck liked how those photographs focused more on the subject’s hands and what they were doing, rather than the environment they were in. “Some artists will do one thing in the same painting over and over and over again, their whole life,” Witbeck says. “I just wanted to change things up.”
After moving to Rhode Island after art school, Witbeck spent more time on the water boating and taking photos with his family. His personal Sisu 22, which he still owns, inspired the notable lobster boat shape that is present in much of his work.
Some days, Witbeck goes into his studio in Pawtucket and nothing happens. But there are also days when his imagination is overrun with bold colors, sleek boats, tiny heads and massive hands. Those days are when the hilarious, boisterous paintings come to life. “I’m not even sure where it comes from,” Witbeck says. “It’s just what I do.”
This article was originally published in the December 2023 issue.
