Valley artist’s surreal creations portray another dimension

By Becky Bosshart

Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008 | midnight

David Donovan's art takes the viewer underwater and into outer space — sometimes in the same painting.

If you find his collection of surreal fantasy art a little "out there," then you may be closer to understanding him than you think.

"It seems like the ideas come from outside myself," Donovan said recently in his Henderson home. "It's a zone I go into. I'm channeling energy."

This energy flows on New Age pan flute music and orchestral strings from the sound system of his Pittman home. Here you'll find the lava lamps bubbling and the glowing misters gurgling.

On his walls are works in water color, pencil, ink, collage, airbrush and digital media — arching rainbows, shimmering pools, pink flamingos, fairy-like faces and rocky landscapes from planets far, far away.

Someday, Donovan hopes to really take his art into space — the airy space within a museum and in a person's home.

"Eventually you'll be able to interact and walk into your art and have it all around you," he said. "It'll be a holographic image. I really believe we're going in that direction."

But for now, his art is confined to the frames. This month, it's showing at the small gallery inside the Henderson Multigenerational Center. His show at 250 S. Green Valley Parkway runs until Nov. 21.

"We are able to allow a wide variety of artists (in the gallery)," said Patty Dominguez, program specialist for the Henderson department of cultural arts and tourism. "We have artists who make a living at it, like David (Donovan) and then we have shows like the one that just finished, which was a college professor's art class."

Donovan, 53, has produced work locally for city events, concerts, corporations and casinos since moving to the valley in 1980. For 27 years, Donovan has created the publicity art for a Las Vegas family theater. It started with the company's first director, Jody Johnston.

"Over the years his posters have been synonymous with who we are," said Karen McKenney, artistic director of Rainbow Company Youth Theatre. "When you receive our new Rainbow Company brochure in the mail, you know it immediately. David designs them so uniquely specific to us."

Becky Bosshart can be reached at 990-7748 or [email protected].