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SoWa Spotlight On: David Lang

Somewhat of a Renaissance man, Lang's upcoming show at the Boston Sculptors Gallery is not to be missed.

• By Christopher Treacy
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• August 12, 2011

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Growing up on the North Shore of Long Island amid multiple truck farms gave artist David Langan unusual playground, from which he developed a passion for rummaging and a lifelong interest in old buildings, abandoned machinery and farm equipment. Lang and his brother learned early on that the possibilities were limitless for what could be made with their hands and a little imagination, fostered by a father that was part engineer, part inventor.

Combining a BS in Biology (Fairfield University) and some art schooling (Paier School of Art), Lang arrived in Massachusetts for graduate studies at MGH and Harvard Medical School, channeling his dual skill-set into the art of medical illustration. He went on to develop the Scientific Illustration Department at Harvard and stayed there until 1972 when he left to become the Art Department Chair at the Middlesex School. Lang retired from teaching in 2003 andopened his studio in Natick.

Lang is a watercolor painter, sculptor, photographer, writer, musician, flight instructor and stroke survivor. At the end of this month he’ll mount an innovative and unusual show at theBoston Sculptors Gallery in SoWa.

Patch: Tell us about this show--how did it come together?

David Lang: This upcoming show is primarily ‘KINETIC SCULPTURE.’ This all began after the stroke. I found it difficult to draw and paint for several years, but was able to conceive of and build mechanical sculpture. The wheels that appear in much of my work have come to represent the passage of time. Some are large, and others are somewhat smaller, but they’re all very delicate and quite elegant.

Much of the work is narrative and explores the unlikelihood of day to day events and celebrates the unexpected. For example, "The Day the Castinetti Sisters First Learned to Fly" presents five flying clams on exceedingly delicate paper wings that slowly open and drop shut suddenly, or "Hey Bob, Are You There?" which presents five barnacles debating the merits of staging an ‘evolution.’

I’ve been working on these themes for seven years now, and continually drawing from life experiences and the events that surround us on a day to day basis. Although I would not have thought so, I have discovered that quite a bit of my work has a quiet political voice. . . . . . .