About the Artist

David Michael Hollander

Painter and Draftsman

David Michael Hollander is a contemporary American painter and draftsman whose work explores the human figure as a meeting place of psychology, memory, and lived experience. Working across painting and drawing, he combines careful observation with expressive surfaces, allowing representation and abstraction to coexist within the same image.

His paintings often emerge through an extended process of revision, where forms are built, erased, and rediscovered. Whether depicting the figure, still life, or urban landscape, Hollander is interested less in recording appearances than in revealing the emotional and structural rhythms beneath them. His work draws equally from the traditions of classical draftsmanship and contemporary painting, seeking a balance between disciplined construction and spontaneous mark making.

For more than three decades, Hollander has also taught yoga and movement, an experience that has deepened his understanding of anatomy, balance, breath, and the expressive potential of the human body. While distinct from his studio practice, this lifelong study quietly informs the sensitivity with which gesture, weight, and presence are approached in his paintings and drawings.

Based in New York, Hollander continues to develop a body of figurative work that reflects a sustained commitment to observation, craftsmanship, and the search for images that feel psychologically aliv