David Armstrong

David Armstrong grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts. He attended the Boston Museum School from 1974-77, where he'd planned to study painting. Instead, he switched almost immediately to photography. He moved to New York in 1977, studied at Cooper Union and spent the rest of the 70s and 80s living and working either in New York or Boston. After receiving a BFA at Tufts University in 1988, he moved back to New York permanently. During this period he worked primarily on black and white portraits. Because Armstrong works intuitively, the portraits are personal and intense. The work is forceful yet ephemeral: capturing the essence of the person while ineffably capturing the essence of Armstrong's own desire.