Park West Gallery Mourns Loss of Beloved Artist David Le Batard
The Park West Gallery family reflected on the passing of one of their beloved artists, David “Lebo” Le Batard, which was announced by his brother yesterday on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.
“When I first met David I was blown away by not just his incredible creativity, but his spiritual grounding and commitment to family and friends. He was a special guy, to say the least, and like myself, devoted a significant amount of time working out and taking care of himself physically and mentally. This is a tough, tough time for the Park West family”, said Albert Scaglione, CEO, of Park West Gallery.
Lebo, who cut his teeth as an artist in Miami, was born in New York to Cuban immigrant parents. He pioneered an innovative art style he playful called, “Postmodern Cartoon Expressionism.” By incorporating bold colors and fun phrases, symbols, and lettering with adorable familiar animals like cats and owls, Le Batard made walls burst into life and helped to make the built environment of the modern world more joyous in the process.
Said Morris Shapiro, Senior Gallery Director, Park West Gallery “David was one of the most extraordinary artists I’ve ever met in my career. I often said that I believed he was destined for greatness, because there was something residing deeply in his work that usually wasn’t immediately recognized. He was a seeker in the greatest sense, and a spiritual antenna to wisdom, knowledge and the most profound aspects of the human experience. He will be deeply missed by the Park West family, and all of his collectors and fans worldwide, and we will do our best to continue to spread his message and shine his light.”
As a child, Lebo studied comic strips and cartoons, because, within this humorous and seemingly casual art form, he saw the limitless potential for joyful human expression. He would end up being inspired as much by Egyptian hieroglyphics as he was by Saturday morning cartoons. Le Batard said that he appreciated a cartoon’s uncomplicated approach to storytelling and for decades, the artist we all admired and adored, did the same thing with his own artwork. He was a cherished cartoonist who expressed himself visually and in a very approachable manner, a visual storyteller who was still learning and exploring the world at large and folding new iconography and artistic styles into his paintings, and a human being who created art with love, joy, and an immense sense of wonder.
“While the work of every artist is innately unique, Lebo’s style was so distinctive and easily identifiable that it resonated in the hearts and minds of so many collectors and me personally. Lebo’s personality and demeanor were just as colorful and bold as his art. I was so excited to have him join and share his passion with our collectors and he is going to be greatly missed” – Marc Scaglione, President, Park West Gallery.
Years ago, during one of our chats with him, Lebo said that “You can take the most obscure, weird stuff in the world and combine it all together, but if you put a cat in the middle of it, people will get engaged by it, and that’s really cool, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.” This quote sums up his accessible approach to not only art but life in general. He wanted more than anything else to engage people in art, and he knew that to make a work identifiable and ultimately speak to who we are as people today, viewers will be more likely to lean in, look at, and learn from art, and in the end, they will smile and feel good.
From his street art and murals in Miami that, according to Lebo, he painted with the goal of making people happy, to the artwork that currently hangs in homes and offices from Alaska to Athens, and from the hull of the Norwegian Getaway cruise ship to the work he did with Ferrari (and a host of other world-famous brands), Lebo is responsible for putting wide smiles on countless faces around the world.
John Block, Executive Vice President, Park West Gallery said “I have the rare gift of getting to know all our artists on a very personal level and I can say that there are few if any that I enjoyed getting to know more than David. His talent and passion for not just art, but the meaning of life just made you feel good to be around him. He was truly a scholar, and it came through in every single work of art he created.”
David “Lebo” Le Batard was 50 years old.
