About the Artist - David Mitchell Lee

My mother would occasionally tell me she knew I would someday grow up to become an artist. She would say that when I was still confined to my baby crib, and when I would start crying, she would throw a newspaper in my crib.
Immediately, I would start thumbing through the "arts & entertainment" or "the calendar" section of the newspaper (to try and read the movie reviews) which naturally made me stop crying. Okay, the latter part of the story is just my exaggeration (and, perhaps, a poor attempt at humor). The real account goes something like this: I would immediately start to tear up the newspaper, and in the process of occupying both my mind and my hands, I would always stop crying, supposably it worked like a charm.

Thirty-seven years later, I think I'm still the same; I'm "bumping around"
through life trying to analyze any and everything visually through my quirky perception and life experiences. In other words, life seems to "agitate" me, and I'm only at one with myself when I have a good concept floating in my head, my radio/CD player on my side, and a nice smooth wall in front of me. I'm also at one or at peace with myself when I'm attempting to help others, or, at least, when I think I'm helping others. Perhaps, teaching will be in my "cards" in the not so far future?

So how did I get started? In 1985, I received, perhaps, my first and biggest break when the executive director of the then Oceanside Boys Club (now, the Oceanside Boys & Girls Club-OBGC) asked if I knew how to paint a mural for the gymnasium? Without hesitating I answered yes, even though I never painted one before. I thought, because I had experience working with Dave Welch, a professional sign painter (before the computerize vinyl cutting machines), I could follow through on my word. Along with another friend, we would assist Dave in enlarged lettering projects and even producing backdrops for various stage performances. So as a result I learned how to enlarge images onto any given surface. Also I was confident that my painting style would translate well to a larger scale.

The OBGC mural project was my first, largest (8'x 169'), and one of my favorite murals thus far. Despite having this challenge and opportunity, I did manage to remain focused on my education and went on to Cal State University Long Beach (CSULB) where I received a BA in Illustration. In a lot of ways the OBGC mural is autobiographical in charting my artistic growth at the beginning of my career. In fact, what I learned in my studio courses at CSULB, I was able to "project" onto the walls of the second half of the OBGC mural recording the transition of my painting style and my artistic development.

In 1993, I officially launched my pursuit as a muralist. To date, I have had the opportunity to successfully complete over 60 murals/projects ranging from 4'x 8' to 8'x 169' in mostly commercial settings along with residential and five public art projects.

My approach has always been to treat the project at hand as if it were my last similar to how the singer/songwriter, Bruce Springsteen, would approach a live performance. I'm yet to hear anyone dispute his reputation as a live performer (Whether one is a fan of his music or not). Borrowing from a sports terminology, he seems to leave everything on the playing field. The former head of the Illustration Dept. (CSULB), the late Dick Oden, would often say, "if you can get excited about whatever project you're working on, you'll always find yourself with work". Eleven years later, I am starting not only to understand this, but to actually live it.

Thank you for visiting my web site and taking the time to find out about me.
And hopefully, the opportunity to bring to "life" the walls/surfaces of your given environment and, in the process, thank you for keeping one particular artist from getting too "agitated".