With a name like Lenz, one would hope that he's a photographer, but alas we are let down again.

David Lenz was born in 1962 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and from childhood was surrounded by art. His grandfather was Nic Lenz, the painter and illustrator and his father ran the Lenz Gallery in Milwaukee. By the age of ten it was decided: little David would become an artist. And he showed great promise early on when he won the “Kiddie Corner Art Contest” with a prize of a $10 savings account at First Wisconsin Bank. If that didn’t tell his family that they had a star on their hands, then I don’t know what could.

He attended the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and majored in Visual Communication, which is like a graphic design/illustration combo, but he was different from him classmates. His work was representational and representational art was considered very un-chic at the time, and Lenz was looked down upon by his classmates. He got over it, graduated, and became an art director, only to quit and pursue his personal art full time. In 1997, he found an incredible source of inspiration in his son Sam, who was born with Downs Syndrome. At the time he was invested in doing paintings of dairy farmers Ervin and Mercedes Wagner, but when the National Portrait Gallery advertised a competition, David knew he wanted to paint Sam. Out of 4,000 applicants, David won. 

When asked about his style, David Lenz is reluctant to call himself a Photorealist, though his photorealistic abilities are uncanny. He explains that "[he] like[s] to think of [his] paintings as socially realistic." His paintings aren’t explicitly taken from photographs and many small modifications in his pieces result in a “final painting [that] bares little or no resemblance to the reference photographs.” He also embellishes them and includes things that he thinks add meaning to the painting – like suns with halos, which “come from Hudson River paintings as a metaphor for God looking down on the earth.” He may not be the craziest artist out there or have sexy stories like Andy Warhol, but he’s a good Dad with a heart of gold.