David Syre (born 1940) lives and works in Bellingham, WA, and Tucson, AZ.

David Syre is an American artist working in Bellingham, WA and Tucson, AZ. Syre produces large-scale acrylic paintings, drawings, watercolors, sculptures, and monumental art installations inspired by the subconscious, nature, and his travels. In recent years, Syre has exhibited in Asia, Canada, Europe, South America, and the US.

Syre first started making art with his Swedish grandmother after battling polio at age 4, and, since then, has never stopped –even though he pursued a more traditional career in business development. All his life, art-making was a salvation and an urge to fulfill, and he found inspiration in spirituality that affected his life’s journey, both artistically and personally. Syre traveled the world studying forms of religion, spiritual practices, and Indigenous peoples and civilizations. He was captivated by the ancient wisdom of nature he found at the core of these cultures. Nature, these Indigenous cultures, and the primordial connection between them and the land became one of the biggest influences on his art. Inspirations originating from Syre’s meditative practices, in the end, translate to an ever-evolving, sophisticated, and prolific body of work.

Over the years, Syre developed and mastered this unique voice cultivated with experimentation, spontaneity, and an innate ability to grasp new techniques and adapt to new mediums. His working method often involves bold, fast-paced lines and brushstrokes, and an intricate, multi-layered composition of vivid acrylics. Syre’s surroundings and extensive travel play a strong role in shaping his styles and imagery.  Rather than simply depicting environments, he channels the visual and cultural signs embedded within them, resulting in works that can appear stylistically opposite, ranging from energetic, movement-filled canvases to calm, meditative compositions informed by a sense of quiet focus. 

Syre’s artistic process is both ritualistic and responsive to the present moment. His signature drawings on black paper are created through quick, decisive gestures similar to those in his acrylic paintings and revisit recurring themes such as the universe, landscapes and architecture, tributes to the land, and totemic forms. His watercolors, by contrast, unfold through a more calculated process of painterly composition, while maintaining a similarly bold expressive force.

Across all media, his precise linework remains a distinguished hallmark. His steady, detailed outlines often add new narratives to a painting or drawing, revealing shapes and forms otherwise hidden in his colored backgrounds.

Earlier in his career, Syre explored these techniques and media in separate bodies of work, each with its own consistent style. In recent years, he has begun bringing them together on a single canvas, creating a visual language that is clearly his own.

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David Syre has exhibited internationally in galleries, art fairs, museums, and public spaces, with presentations in cities including  Bellingham, WA; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Copenhagen, Denmark; Hamburg, Germany; Miami, FL; New York, NY; Nice, France; Palm Beach, FL; Santa Fe, NM; Seattle, WA; Seoul, South Korea; Spokane, WA; Vancouver, B.C. In 2022, he completed a major sculptural installation for Peace Arch Historical Park in Blaine, WA.

His work has been featured in international press and art publications including ArtSpiel, Art Vancouver Magazine, Cascadia Daily News, Costa Smeralda, Diario Clarin, Die Welt, Hyperallergic, Pasatiempo, Raw Vision, and The Bellingham Herald. A monograph of his works on paper, ‘The Black Book of Drawings,’ was published with essays by international art critics Jessica Holmes and Peter Frank in 2022.

CV | Publications

Exhibitions/Fairs with the Gallery
The Untamed Brush, SARAHCROWN Gallery, New York | February 2025
Outsider Art Fair, booth of SARAHCROWN New York | February 2025
A UNIVERSE, SARAHCROWN Gallery, New York | March 2024
Outsider Art Fair, booth of SARAHCROWN New York | February 2024
ART IN LOBBIES: Liminal Landscapes, SARAHCROWN, New York | September 2023
Outsider Art Fair, booth of SARAHCROWN New York | March 2023
THE BLACK DRAWINGS, SARAHCROWN Gallery, New York | March 2023
INTRODUCING FLAT FILES, SARAHCROWN Gallery, New York | February 2023
LAZY, HAZY, CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER, SARAHCROWN, New York | June 2022