Chasing Nature
Sunsets are Never the Same

By Corey Fisher, Westside Weekly- LA Times

Westwood- When Westwood Artist David Gallup set out to paint the sunset every evening of the year in 1999, it wasn't quite the serene exercise he had envisioned.

In fact, his wife, Rosalind, likened his nightly frenzies to the movie "Twister," where scientists raced against time, speeding along back roads to catch tornadoes.

But in Gallup's case, it was sunsets.

"By the end I was like a hunter, tracking the best spot each evening," Gallup said. "I realized I could travel just 5 to 10 minutes and find something completely different and spectacular. The sunset varies dramatically depending on where you are."

The 33-year-old painter has always been fascinated with "the one piece of nature that stops you in your tracks and comes to you wherever you are." Capturing the year in sunsets, he felt, would ba a powerful way to mark the end of a millennium. Although he stuck to a rigid schedule for months, by the end of the year, Gallup's collection averaged about four sunsets per week. He then picked the best painting frome each week, and launched his exhibit, "52 California Sunsets", which is now showing at the Westwood Boulevard art gallery, Wake Me When I'm Famous.

Throughout the process of documenting the sky's light from different landscapes all over the state, Gallup faced a challenge inherent to every sunset: He had a maximum of 15 minutes to paint each picture, then it was dark.

"Being rushed to paint in a few minutes was an amazing exercise," he said. "I've come out of it a stronger painter."

Because Gallup enjoys painting open spaces and wild lands, he often found himself in State Parks. The only problem: They close at sunset.

"I had a yearlong battle with rangers, who tried to get me to leave," he said. "But on a few occasions the sunset was so beautiful that they would stop and watch the sky, too. Sunsets can be like bottled meditation."

Gallup's 52 Sunsets reflects the dramatically different moods of the year's sunsets. Each painting is like a page in his own journal, he said.

"David's work with color is what stood out for me," fellow artist Ionko Stoyanov said. "these are collectible pieces of time. I hope there is a way that he can keep the whole installation together."

Gallup has already sold a few of the sunsets, but he hopes to put them all into a book, including a collection of stories people have sent to him regarding sunsets.

"Everybody has a story about the sunset," Gallup said. "The only way I'm able to part with these paintings is knowing that I can paint something else, always different, but equally as significant to me."