Gods & Messengers:
Paintings & Works on Paper
by David Lancaster

Aug. 2-30, 2026
Opening reception: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6

Artist Statement

I have been making art all my life, before and after attending the Washington University School of Fine Art. I have shown and sold work in St. Louis, Chicago, San Francisco, and Kentucky. In my current series, “Gods and Messengers,” I depict gods from a variety of religious traditions around the world and throughout history and spiritual messengers who may or may not be worshipped as deities. The images are drawn both from existing sculptures and paintings and from original conceptions and are rendered in monochrome. On top of the monochrome image, a grid of colored squares built of thousands of dots both enlivens the image and partially obscures it. On a purely formal level, there is a satisfying tension between the two visual systems, one depicting a three-dimensional object in space, the other asserting itself as a resolutely two-dimensional plane. As the two struggle for dominance, they yet join forces to create a third reality: a being seen through the prism of many colors, a visual metaphor for the vast spectrum of religious experience, even within a single faith tradition.

About The Gallery

The Gallery at University City Public Library features monthly exhibitions of local and international artists, highlighting the scope of diversity through works of art. For more information about The Gallery, please email thegallery@ucitylibrary.org.