April 20, 2022
The past two years sometimes feel like they’ve lasted a decade and sometimes like just a few months have gone by. It was the Spring of 2020 when we first began hearing strange terms like ‘spike protein’ and ‘wet market,’ and then suddenly tens of thousands of our fellow New Yorkers died in just a few weeks. Our good friend David Ferrando was one of the New Yorkers we lost in those dark, early days and it’s still hard to believe he’s gone… and that two years have passed by since then.
One way that he continues to live on is through his art. David spent many years of his life employed by the Met Museum and the Cloisters, amidst some of the most amazing art in the whole World. On his days off he’d often visit other museums for free by flashing his Met ID card. And from time to time he’d invite me to join him at MOMA, the Whitney downtown or its old home in the Met Breuer on Madison. It was always a lot of fun going with David and I learned a lot about art and artists from him on those outings. And I learned something about David too: if he wasn’t eating or sleeping, he was usually drawing or painting something. It might have been a quick portrait sketched on a takeout coffee cup while riding the A, or a more “formal’ painting, often executed on a canvas or wooden board he’d found in the street. He was a devotee of The Artist’s Way, and even organized meetups for his fellow creatives in the basement of Dichter’s Pharmacy.
World Premier of a 30′ long David Ferrando painting in April 2021, one year after he passed away.
After his death is when I first began to get a true sense of the scope of his life’s work. Although I’d been up to his studio many times and even helped him move lots of his paintings into storage at one point years ago, I’d never gone through the entire oeuvre before, slowly, a painting at a time. His wife, Mariecel, and I decided to try to get a handle on this massive collection that went back many decades. There were hundreds of paintings, drawings, and sketches. We set out to create a catalogue raisonné, a comprehensive listing of all of the works that we had on hand. Little did we know at the time that this would turn out to be a monumental task! Neither of us had ever attempted anything like it before. But they say the first step is the hardest and that it gets easier from there. I don’t know if that’s true of this project, but we took that first step two years ago and we are still working on it!
Some of the paintings in David Ferrando‘s Inwood studio.
Mariecel Ferrando working on David’s catalogue raisonné.
“A thousand tears I’ve shed… and maybe 10 thousand more in pain of grief… all these is worth to think he’s painting away in peaceful happiness. May you be resting in God’s loving embrace, my David. 🙏🏼”
“His 2 most common quotes, “it ain’t easy” and “ there’s abundance in the universe.”
“He would often pick up trash from the streets to atone/as payback of what he did before (hehe)”
“He grew up with violence and abuse .. he succeeded in living a life of /showing kindness and gentleness and love specially to his daughter… and to me.”
Firstly, thank You, Q… for your efforts to put this tribute together and for all of hours photographing and cataloging David Ferrando’s massive body of work. I first met David at the Dayton Art Institute in Dayton Ohio circa 1964. Him being from a blue-collar background in Terra Huete IN and my being a farm kid, we could identify.. and started a life long friendship. It is hard to grok that David is not here in the physical world. But it is a consolation that we can still see his many ‘committee’ inspired expressive statements. Dealing with them is another apartment of colorful feathers.. as he and I would say, “it ain’t easy”. Which we both picked up the phrase while watching Easy Rider matinee showing (not many in the audience).. when a lost enibreated soul stood up in front and said those three words and proceeded to projectile puke. Moving right along in a different gear… I have so many unforgettable experiences with David and am grateful for that!
Probably another book worth..
Rest in Peace brother Dave.
Beautiful article and so nice to see my dear friend’s artwork again!
Dear Q, I am grateful to you and Mariecel for all your work and dedication to bring forth this is incredibly beautiful and inspiring tribute to David. David was a beautiful soul and we connected both as artists and our understanding that our art was part of and included evolving our souls. There are not many like him who live this imperative.
As director of Artists Unite, I had the pleasure of mounting an exhibit of his work at the Berkshire Bank Entrance Gallery. It was a well attended and celebratory event,
David was a treasure. I miss his honesty, sincerity and the boldness of his truth telling in his work. Be in peace David. You’ve left your mark.
Thank you, Rosa
Thank you very much for this beautiful tribute Q. David was blessed to have known you .. and I, to have met and “inherited “ your friendship ! God bless you!
Thank you Q. I can’t believe he isn’t there painting still and that it’s been two years. Outside of linear time he is still in Inwood “keeping up with market demand”. Sorting through those paintings will affect your dreams. They are embedded with love and hope available to the patient observer.