Baker Artist Portfolios

David Hess harvests contrasting forms and materials to create a collision between the man-made and natural worlds. Hess refers to these artifacts as “rescued objects,” suggesting that these materials are loaded with history and cultural narrative – making them not only worthy of salvage, but of incorporation and preservation. At Dartmouth College, Hess studied with the realist wood sculptor Fumio Yoshimura, whose precision and humor had a profound impact on Hess. Hess concentrated studies in Pre Med, Engineering, Japanese Design and Film-Making continue to inform his current studio practice, as he draws upon methods of observation, object making and constructing narrative. Hess’s practice activates these rescued objects through his commissioned furniture, sculpture, architectural elements and public art projects. His sculpture frequently explores a precarious imbalance and balance of elements imbued with potential energy, poised on the verge of movement but ultimately frozen in time.

Hess’s work has been exhibited at the Goya Contemporary, Baltimore, and the John Elder Gallery, New York. His work can be found in the numerous private and public collections including the American Visionary Art Museum, Thurgood Marshall Airport (Baltimore Washington International Airport), Johns Hopkins Hospital, Sinai Hospital, Montgomery College, Kaiser-Permanente and the Emerson Corporation in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition, he has completed over twenty public art commissions in and around Baltimore, Rockville, Germantown, Maryland and Washington D.C.