Visual artist returns to UAB for 2 exhibits

New York visual artist David Sandlin is exhibiting two major series of work, “A Sinner’s Progress: A Modern Moral Journey” and “76 Manifestations of American Destiny,” consisting of drawings, paintings and hand-printed books, at the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts at UAB through Aug. 20.

The exhibit is noteworthy based on the quality of the work alone. “Sandlin is an incredible painter, printmaker and illustrator,” AEIVA curator John Fields said.

But there’s another reason for the show to generate local interest. Although Sandlin was born in Northern Ireland in 1956, he moved to Alabama with his family in 1972 and later earned his art degree at UAB.

And Sandlin, who’s lived in New York’s East Village since 1980, has drawn skillfully on the rich, turbulent histories of Ireland and Alabama for the philosophical underpinnings of his large body of work. 

His detailed books, drawings and paintings — heavily influenced by comics — present narrative imagery and semi-autobiographical tales of morality, redemption and American exceptionalism. “I make goofy, cartoony paintings and kind of social satire, and I like the fact of floating between the comic world and art world,” he said.

Sandlin and his family moved to Alabama in 1972 “to get away from the troubles in Belfast,” he said, referring to the ongoing violence between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

His dad was American and grew up in Cullman County, where the family relocated.

Sandlin was one of only a dozen art majors when he started at UAB in 1975, he told UAB Magazine in 2010, but he found a mentor in John Dillon, who taught printmaking from 1972-97. “He was a great teacher,” Sandlin said.

The UAB campus was much smaller then. “We all lived in apartments in the neighborhood,” Sandlin said. “It was easy to live close by, cheaply, walk over to school.”

Sandlin and some of his friends formed their own art group, called Ruckus. “We made our own fun and ... our own scene,” he said. 

Sandlin now teaches printmaking, book arts and illustration at the School of Visual Arts. He’s exhibited in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia, and has published comics and illustrations.

He takes note of big changes at UAB. “It definitely seems way bigger ... but certainly [AEIVA] is really impressive,” he said. “So from what I see, the changes are hopefully for the better.”