Berman Museum

David Scher
David Scher

David Scher

Brooklyn-based artist, David Scher’s carpenter drawings and paintings pay homage to the everyday laborer in his exhibition, The Tool-bag Years. Working by stream-of-conscious process, Scher treats drawing like an extension of his body, where producing artwork becomes synonymous with breathing. Over the course of his five-decade-career, Scher has imagined laborers within the worlds of his drawings. Composed of intuitive lines and expressive ink-washes, Scher’s carpenters are often isolated within their environment where their actions become the focus—whether that be climbing a ladder, hammering a nail, drilling a hole, or simply sitting at rest. Scher elevates those who work with their hands, drawing parallels between the artist and blue-collar worker; he suggests that the skill of a manual laborer is no less worth celebrating than that of an artist.

Scher’s collection of drawings which comprise The Tool-bag Years adorn the Berman Museum’s front gallery walls and extend to a site-specific painting made in the center of the gallery. In conjunction with the Berman’s Music for 150 Carpenters exhibition, The Tool-bag Years honors the work of individuals whose labor since 1869 have made the celebration of Ursinus College’s 150th anniversary possible.

David Scher is represented by Pierogi Gallery in New York City and his work is in collections of some of the nation’s finest institutions including: the Museum of Modern Art, NY, the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, and the Orange County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, among others.

All Berman exhibitions are free and open to the public.

Order Date

11/06/2019