David Sandum: a Modern Expressionist Painter

A painter, born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1971, David Sandum is one of those artists with an intense feel for space, color, and movement. His paintings seem to follow his moods. Aside from a few history classes he took in college, he is mostly self-taught. David received his degree in organizational communication and history from the University of Utah.

A passion for art history taught by a fantastic professor shifted his focus from naturalistic art to more modern pieces such as work from Van Gogh and Matisse and started paying more particular attention to color and composition.

After graduation, he returned to Scandinavia where he settled in Moss, Norway. He still lives there today with his wife and two children. Upon his return, the changes and the “deflation” after college led David to descend into a serious depression. This depression and the subsequent bouts of it became the initial push to paint and to this day, help him deal with his difficult emotions. In 2015, he published his memoir “I'll Run Till the Sun Goes Down: A Memoir About Depression and Discovering Art” recounting the difficult passages he surmounted in his life. Depression is an ongoing disease. Painting is helping him cope with it.

David is a brilliant painter. In the real sense of the word. Using his emotions as guidance, he paints with his heart. The results are often images of raw and intense beauty. Some of the artists that may have influenced his work are Munch, Karsten, and Sparre, Scandinavian painters, as well as Seurat, Gauguin, Kahlo. And probably more.

In 2014, David was accepted to work with etchings at Estudi Gravat de Igniasi Aguirre Ruiz in Barcelona, Now a master printmaker, he makes prints in drypoint, aquatint, and carborundum techniques.