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David Palladini, 2017 This concise biography was written as a ‘fan tribute’ to the artist by Mark Strong of Meibohm Fine Arts, from years of research and compiled information about the life and illustrative career of internationally renowned artist, author, and teacher, David Palladini (Italian-American, 1946-). The biography shares elements of David’s family history and upbringing, his formal art education, teaching experience, and commercial highlights from his forty-plus-year career as an award-winning illustrator and fine artist. David’s distinctive style has been influenced by numerous art movements, fusing elements from his imagination, and from many highly decorative styles, such as: Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Medieval, Renaissance, Egyptian, 1960’s Psychedelic era, Sci-Fi, New Age, and even stained-glass window design. The introduction, written by Mark, speaks of the serendipitous beginning of their friendship in 2008 with a simple phone call from David, which became his sole inspiration for writing the biography. It offers fans and newcomers an intimate and rare view into the personal life and soul of this relatively private artist, who has himself, given his own soul to his art. It allows the reader insight into the successes, failures, struggles, and inspirational life experiences from this gifted artist, who has not only remained true to himself, but to his craft. Throughout his career, David has maintained his own unique artistic style, and has securely earned a place in the annals of illustration history. This biographical book, aptly titled Palladini, also includes over seventy full-color reproductions of original artwork by David which spans the length of his career, showcasing some of his best-known illustrations, as well as never-before-published illustrations and fine art. PALLADINI © 2017 Suntup Editions Biography © 2017 by Mark Strong Ouroboros Dragon illustration © 2017 by Rachel Readman All Rights Reserved Edited and designed by Paul Suntup Front and Back Cover design by Rebecca Dornsife Cover photograph by Paul Suntup No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. FIRST EDITION ISBN: 978-0-9988649-2-1 NOT SOLD SEPARATELY This biography is included free with The Eyes of the Dragon Art Portfolio, published by Suntup Editions. Every attempt has been made to contact the copyright holders of the images in this book in order to obtain their permission. However, we apologize for any inadvertent omissions. Appropriate credit will be given in future editions if such copyright holders contact the publisher. suntup.press PALLADINI a concise biography of DAV I D PA L L A D I N I by MA R K S T R O N G SUNTUP EDITIONS 2017 INTRODUCTION n Tuesday, July 8th, 2008, I had the complete pleasure and honor to speak with David Palladini on the phone for the first time. One of the ladies in our art gallery at Meibohm Fine Arts, had told me that a Mr. Palladini O was on the phone asking for me. I looked at her in disbelief and said, “What? Are you kidding me?” After her reassurance that it was true, I still couldn’t believe it and quickly became rather nervous. So, with a few deep breaths, I answered the phone. Within a few moments of polite conversation, I felt completely at ease, as David was extremely friendly and completely down to earth. He had called me in reference to one of his 1970 zodiac posters we had recently listed for sale on eBay and also on our website for the gallery. A friend of his, an astrologer and collector of his work, had emailed him a picture of the poster “Virgo” from our listing. He was quite gracious and thanked us for the preservation, description, and history of the poster which was in pristine condition. He said that he hadn’t seen any of the zodiac posters since they were first published in 1970, and was happy to see it again after all this time. I told him that the “Libra” poster had recently sold, but that we had ten of the posters still available. They too were all in equally mint condition but unfortunately we were missing the “Leo” poster which I hadn’t found in our archive yet or it had been sold a long time ago. I explained that the posters had all been tucked away in our archive drawers since Walter Meibohm had purchased them in 1970, and hadn’t seen the light-of-day in all that time. They were still as beautiful and vibrant as the day they were printed! He mentioned that he would have signed the whole set if we had all twelve, but unfortunately we were short two of them. I told him that as collectibles, they could be worth up to $200 due to their rarity and condition. David chuckled and said that they had originally sold for $1.00 back in 1970. I expressed to him that I was a big fan of illustration art and design, particularly work from the 1960’s-70’s Psychedelic era, rock illustrations, posters, handbills, and the like. We talked about how original posters from that time period are collectible and quite sought after by collectors now. We went on to discuss how illustration design 6 had somewhat died out over the years, and that only a handful of artists were still trying to keep the older styles alive, and that some artists have unfortunately passed on already. He told me that he doesn’t do illustration work anymore, and that his newer work in pastels was quite different from what he had previously done, or was most well- known for. He went on to recall the time he had spent living in France, in the small and secluded village of twenty-eight residents, where everyone rode bicycles since there were no cars allowed. Every morning he said he could walk outside his home and smell the scent of fresh rosemary in the air. He also stated humorously, that he wondered why he had even come back to the States, as so much had changed here. After living in a village for so long without automobiles, it was overwhelming, and he was even afraid to cross the street with all the cars speeding by! I asked him about his exhibition history and he said that he had traveled and exhibited all over the world, in places such as: the U.S., Brazil, Jamaica, Paris, and throughout Europe. He said that his artwork had traveled with him to each and every exhibition over the years, and what pieces he didn’t sell, and still maintains, are a little worse-for-wear because of it. He said he was doing well and currently resides in Newport Beach, CA. One interesting thing he mentioned during the conversation as a side note was that, “Van Gogh never sold a painting in his lifetime, except one painting to his brother Theo for 5 Francs, and his brother was an art dealer too!” Though that story is still a source of contention and often debated, David’s point was simply referencing how some artist’s work isn’t fully appreciated, or even considered valuable while the artist is still alive. David went on to say that he felt he wouldn’t become really known or appreciated until after he was dead. As a consequence of that thought, he said he is very reluctant to sell any artwork he still has left. Since he has no real auction history for sold works in the ‘art world’, finding any of his original art is very hard to come by on the open market. Speaking with David was certainly one of the highlights of my life, not only because he is such a well-known artist, but for the fact that I am a fan of his work. After a very pleasant conversation that lasted for about a half hour, I got off the phone and couldn’t believe that I had just talked with someone whom I feel is one of the best illustrators of the last forty years. I immediately went upstairs to my studio and typed everything down that we had talked about while it was still fresh in my memory. That initial conversation left me feeling like I had to do something for this exceptionally talented and humble artist, someone who had in some ways and by his own admission, been somewhat forgotten with time and absence. Up until that point, there was certainly no 7 comprehensive biography about him in books or across the online nethersphere, aside from a few paragraphs on Wikipedia. From what I had researched and read across different websites, various publications, Tarot and personal blogs, or heard in podcasts, his artwork is highly appreciated by his fans across the globe. Some stated that they would definitely like to know more about him but had no idea where to look. Talking with David inspired me to write a biography for him, and was my sole purpose for doing it. As the gallery’s webmaster, it was my job to not only maintain the website, but also the photography of all our represented artwork, as well as research and handle as-needed artist biographies. So from there, I realized this was going to be no easy task and would require more time than normal. I quickly set out to compile as much of a comprehensive biography on him as I could build in my off-time, not only from my conversation with him as a starting point, but from all the tidbits and scraps of information I had found scattered across the internet.

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