Art Review: Eileen David: "Recent Paintings"

Through Eileen David's tiny brush strokes, everyday scenes of Potrero Hill, Bernal Heights, Hunters Point (where her studio is), and other San Francisco neighborhoods erupt with color and feeling. Rows of houses become alluring triangles and squares. Oil tankers dazzle with reflections of brilliant skies. And empty streets beckon with shade and sunlight, their hilly pavement resembling slopes on the French Riviera. Throughout her small canvases, David uses Diebenkorn colors — oranges, purples, greens, yellows, and turquoises — to heighten the intensity. Many of her paintings are about the size of a standard hardcover book, but seem much larger because of their unusual perspectives. With David, less is more — an invitation to reconsider freeway turnoffs, gas-station lots, city bridges, and neighborhood crests that are taken for granted in our rush to get from one San Francisco corner to the next.