David Held
At a young age, I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Reading and writing was difficult, but there was a feeling inside me that needed a mode of creative expression. I was drawn to the visual mediums of the structural film and video movement of the 1960’s and 70’s. I apprenticed with filmmaker/science fiction illustrator Ed Emshwiller for three years while in high school. Later I went on to SUNY Buffalo, Center for Media Studies where I apprenticed and studied with film artist Paul Sharits as well with photographer/filmmaker Hollis Frampton and video artists Woody and Steina Vasulka.
In 1979, I received a grant to create a custom computer controlled sixteen speaker sound system. As I matured as an artist, the main material in my work became the uses, meaning and sounds of language in the creation of sound/multimedia installations.
In 1984, the custom built system went up in smoke (literally). Then my artistic career went on hiatus.
My artistic career was revitalized by the Maker Movement in the 2010’s. I taught several “Art and Technology” courses to middle and high school students and mentored high school students in Kingston’s Alternative High School. During this time I created several sculptural pieces while organizing and displaying in official Maker Faires in Poughkeepsie, NY in 2015-2017.
In 2024, I rebuilt the sixteen speaker system and went on to develop installations, audio works, sculptures and photography.
David Held
Exhibitions:
2026 – Arts Society of Kingston, Kingston, NY, Color Inferno, Juried by Stephen Olivier, Flag Study #2, Inkjet Print
2026 – New Alliance Gallery, Somerville, MA, Synth-tember: Art+Science, Untitled, Interactive Video
2026 – Super Secret Projects, Beacon, NY, ”Primortal Recall”, Sculpture
2026 – Studio Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA, All Media: 2026, Juror: Patricia Sweetow, “Cross Examinations: An Unsolved Mystery”, Video
2026 – Arts Society of Kingston, Kingston, NY, Poetry of the Ordinary Show, “Confabulation or You Can’t Hide Those Hippocampus Lies”, Sculpture
2026 – Arts Mid-Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY, “Tensions & Triumph”, “Cross Examinations: Voir Dire”, Video
2026 – Unprecedented, Metro Art Studios, “Women’s Rights are Human Rights”, Spectrogram Inkjet Print, curated by Margarita Karasoulas
2026 – Vintage Visionary, Las Laguna Art Gallery, “I have a Dream”, Spectrogram Inkjet Print
2026 – Out of Bounds, “Pushing the Line Between Technology and Art”, curated by Kirsten Bengtson-Lykoudis, “Confabulation or You Can’t Hide Those Hippocampus Lies”, Sculpture
2026 – Roost Gallery, New Paltz, NY, “The Rip Off Show”, “Magritte’s Perturbation”, Photo Triptych
2026 – Photo Art Pavilion, “Seeing Red”, Flag Study #7, Photograph
2026 – Ake Gallery, Cortland, NY, “Remastered”, “Magritte’s Perturbation”, Photo Triptych
2025 – Arts Mid-Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY, “Sound and Vision”, Audio Works
2024 – O+ Festival, Kingston, NY, “A Chording to Lady Mondegreen”, Computerized 16 Speaker Sound Installation
2024 – Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, “Far & Wide National”, Juror: Taliesin Thomas, “Confabulation or You Can’t Hide Those Hippocampus Lies”, Sculpture
2024 – Jane Street Gallery, Saugurties, NY, “Off the Charts – Medical Art”, “Pidgin”, Sculpture
2023 – Art Buoy, Kingston, NY, “Cross Examinations”, Video and Sound Installation
2023 – Art League Rhode Island, “American Carnage’, Photograph
2023 – Denizen Theatre, New Paltz, NY, “Ask Not”, Photograph
2023 – Cultural Center of Cape Cod, “Cross Examinations (A Sounding), Video
Grants/Credits/Publications:
2026 – The Journal Of Abstract And Nonrepresentational Art
2024 – Recipient of a Mid-Hudson Arts Grant Arts & Culture Project Grant for “Language Lost”
2022 – Recipient Mid-Hudson Arts Grant for the installation of “Repercussions: Cross Examinations
2015-2017 – Producer and exhibitor of official Make Magazine Maker Faire in Poughkeepsie
1982 – NEA Grant with Woody Vasulka and Paul Sharits to develop computer based RGB Film Recording System
1979 – NYS Council of the Arts Grant, Development of Computerized 16 Channel Sound System
1976 – WNET TV, New York, NY “Merce by Merce by Paik” Soundtrack for video by Nam June Paik on Merce Cunningham
Art With Held --- David Held 