About the artist:

David “Kawika“ Maes Gallegos b.1954 – was born in Denver, Colorado. His Grandparents moved to San Francisco in 1934. David Maes Gallegos followed at 36 month sold, due to a life threatening (Right) hand accident which required 18reconstructive surgeries up to the age of 16. His Mother encouraged him to draw during his yearly operations, where his right hand would be tied up on a stand, leaving his left hand free to draw. He remembers his first visual art experience at age seven, where one of his doctors, (Dr. Sterling Bunnell Sr.) had a detail photograph of the right hand of Michelangelo’s David sculpture. David Maes Gallegos excelled in art classes from the beginning, winning his first award at the age of 14, First Place – GraphicArts – California State Fair Student Art Competition. While in High school in Los Angeles where his family moved for five years, he won drawing and painting scholarships at UC Northridge and the UCLASummer sessions program for Drawing in 1967, where he remembers seeing Richard Diebenkorn teaching. David Maes Gallegos was accepted into the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at CCAC, now CCA, winning two full tuition portfolio scholarships, graduating with distinction from California College of Arts and Crafts in 1975. During his time at CCAC, David Maes Gallegos worked as an Antique Restorer, (Age 18-21) delivering many Objet de’arts to many prominent San Francisco collections, where he privately viewed priceless paintings by Matisse, Picasso, Renoir, Pierre Bonnard,Piet Mondrian, Rembrandt, and others, viewing “Woman with a Hat”by Matisse with Elise Haas – before the painting was Donated to theSFMOMA permanent collection. A few years later, Maes Gallegos was befriended by Anton Gintner, a student of Richard Diebenkorn, who passed on his influence of BayArea figurative painting to Anton Gintner, who introduced David Maes Gallegos to Figurative Realism. David Maes Gallegos was accepted intoSan Francisco State University’s Master’s Degree program, choosing to study with Painters Robert Bechtel and Richard McLean. David Maes Gallegos received his Master of Fine Arts Degree in Painting from SanFrancisco State University in 1978. It was conventional for artist’s to get some form of day job to work on their art. Encouraged by his friends,David Maes Gallegos was given his first one man show at a Nob Hill gallery in 1978. From 1978 to 1990, Mr. Gallegos had numerous Solo and Group Museum and Gallery Exhibitions in Northern California that were all successful. During this time he also was chosen to work with theTamarind Litho grapher, Ernest DeSoto Workshop. In 1985-86 produced five limited edition lithographs. A trip to the Chicago Art Institute inspired his Chicago Lithograph, and the famous “Art for Peace” (Anti- Nuclear War Lithograph) of which he sent a poster of the work to every member of the US Senate. In 1990, David Maes Gallegos was discovered by Japanese AmericanZephyr Cove Publishing, who signed the Artist to a five year contract.The Artist had saved enough money to paint full time by 1992. From1990 to 1994, and again from 2000 to 2003, David Maes Gallegos traveled to Japan annually for Exhibitions of his work with Tours of all Major cities in Japan, with numerous museum and gallery exhibitions with great success. Among other awards, he is the winner of the Interfaith Forum on Art,Religion and Architecture International Arts Award at the Judah L.Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California. David Gallegos has displayed in a number of prominent museums and galleries including The Richmond and Redding Art museums, Harcourt’s Contemporary and the MexicanMuseum California; The Northern Illinois University Gallery in Chicago;the Hobart Gallery in Santa Barbara; The Gallery Ravel in Austin, Texas,the Stanford University Art Museum at Stanford; Arizona University ofArt Museum in Tucson, and California Palace of the Legion of Honor,and the Hilo Museum of contemporary Art. David (Maes) Gallegos Art has been featured in Architectural Digest, Art in America, Art Week, theEncyclopedia of Living Artists among other Books and periodicals. David Gallegos Artwork is collected in a great number of private and corporate collections and is in constant demand for commissions throughout the United States and abroad. The Artist currently works inHawaii. In 1987 David Maes Gallegos formed “Spirit Art Studio."