What’s the best thing about living as an artist on Cape Cod? According to David Kooharian, “Anywhere you have different environments meeting is fascinating. And I love the fact that you’re kind of at an end place; beyond the Cape, you’re on water. But the water, rather than be isolating, is kind of a highway to anywhere, to your imagination.” As his work clearly demonstrates, David has allowed himself to travel that highway of the imagination, recording his journey in his paintings.

If you ask him how he became an artist, David says, “Everybody draws and paints until they’re like nine years old and then some people—most people—stop, and a handful keep going. I was one of the ones that kept going.” Decades later, he’s still going, with an impressive and varied body of work to show for his efforts. But he would be the first to say that his trajectory has been full of stops,  starts and detours. In the process, he discovered that “everything you do and everything you create is in some way a self-portrait.” 

The evidence of David’s journey can be found throughout his art, which reflects his experiences and interests no matter the medium or the subject. He is not an artist who can be identified with a single technique or style; he likes trying new things, taking risks, incorporating new techniques to see the results they will yield. The subjects of his work range from landscapes to cityscapes; scenes on the water to contemplative portraits; and even work depicting “real life” scenes from the North Carolinian mountain communities where he lived briefly with his family when his son was still an infant. After spending most of his childhood around Boston and Washington D.C., and summering in the family cottage on the Cape, he would see the trailers and tiny cabins in the mountains and ask, “What’s their story? And can you sort of tell a story about the people that lived there based on that?”

Many of David’s paintings begin with photos, which he thinks of as field notes. He will visit a location and take dozens of shots, using a variety of angles and exposures to compose an image that allows him to express the essence of a person or place. When he creates a painting, he leans into the different textures and surfaces he sees in those images, and he varies the techniques and brushwork to accentuate what he perceives to be the texture of their lives. As he puts it, “I let the subject dictate what it needs me to do. And I like to explore where those textures intersect.” 

In addition to his own work, David has shared his knowledge and experience in the classroom. When his son was a student at Sturgis High School, the art teacher asked David to come in and talk with students. That led to more visits, and substitute teaching, and eventually a regular teaching job. It was time in the classroom that helped him to understand how deeply art reflects the artist’s life, even when that’s not the conscious intention. “Sometimes it’s not until years later, I look at a piece and I go, ‘Oh, that’s what that was about.’” 

Moving forward, David plans to continue “striving for failure,” because “if you’re not failing, then you haven’t learned anything. You’re not getting any better.” And he encourages everyone else to do the same, in art or work or life; he feels sure that trying and failing, and trying again, “It’s what makes us human.”

David Kooharian’s studio is located in Mashpee and is open by appointment. Visit his website at kooharianart.com.