Photos by L.G. Patterson

In the basement of a typical Columbia home, you may expect to find a laundry room, a game room, a wet bar or just unfinished concrete. But David Spear’s lower level looks a little different.

A black-and-white cat named Matisse roams the spacious area. Framed paintings are hung on pristine white walls. A workspace in the corner houses everything you might expect from an artist: a sketching table, easels with paintings in various states of completion, a whiteboard with project timelines (including an upcoming series of paintings and a mural), a large monitor with the definition of “cowpuncher” as the most recent search, a wooden shelf overflowing with art history books and sketchbooks. This is where Spear researches, sketches, paints and more, until taking a small-scale idea to a blank wall somewhere in town.

While he portrays himself as, “just another artist in a community of artists,” Spear holds a prominent role in Columbia. If you’ve ever dined at Addison’s, watched an outdoor flick in the Arcade District or walked the streets of downtown Columbia, you’ve probably seen his work.

Over the past 25 years, Spear has raised a family as well as a reputation as a major artist in town. “Columbia’s been really good to me,” he says. “It’s a great community. You start to know everybody and it has a nice art scene.”

Much of Spear’s work prior to coming to Columbia was centered on music. But when he started working at Addison’s – washing dishes, waiting tables, tending bar and more – he noticed the blank walls and decided to do something about them. A series of paintings now cover those walls, depicting the chaotic nature of working in the restaurant industry. Spear says these paintings are the ones most people attribute to him, but his style is scattered across the city.

When asked about who or what inspires his style most, his response was a long pause. “I think most people would tell me that I am a Thomas Hart Benton Regionalist … that’s the group I tend to get bracketed with, but that term is expandable,” Spear says. This style is characterized by narrative scenes in bold colors, rhythmic movement and exaggerated figures, often arranged in dynamic compositions. “I consciously think about (painting) in a style that people can relate to here in Columbia, so working from that Midwest Regionalist style certainly helped.”

He doesn’t stop at just one artist or style, though. Spear’s bookshelf is crammed with books on art, both his own and borrowed from the library. “That’s one of my favorite things to do: study and research art history,” he says. “Through art history, you could understand a lot of history, politics, religion and all kinds of other things.”

So how does Spear take his art from commission to a 100- foot wall? Research is step one.

Before Spear even begins to put paintbrush to brick for his upcoming mural on the Balsamo Warehouse in the North Village Arts District, he will have spent nearly a month conducting research on the area to drive his design. “I want to know what it was before,” he says. “This whole area was Osage hunting grounds, then it was a part of the Boone’s Lick Trail, so there was a natural trail of animals that were making a path here. It’s interesting how people ended up here and what it became.”

From deep dives into articles, history books and the Boone County Historical Society, Spear fleshes out a comprehensive understanding of the town’s history. “I just jot down little scribbles, sketching things out and seeing how they juxtapose each other,” he says. “I always want to have an emphasis on the arts, with a little bit of historical draw so it shows a timeline of important or interesting stories.”

The next step is what Spear calls a “doodle grid.” By placing an array of numbers, letters and symbols on the mural space, he superimposes the drawing on top of the grid in Photoshop. “That way I can look at a little chunk at a time,” he says. “For example, I can say this guy’s nose goes from that part of ‘A’ to that part of ‘R.’”

However, the doodle grid has seen some mixed reviews once it’s on the wall. “When the towns see what looks like graffiti, they flip out, thinking the place has been vandalized; I’ve even been accused of Satanic messaging,” Spear says. “When I did a mural in Salem, I had a guy tell me the preacher talked about me in a sermon, saying not to judge a book by its cover.”

During the months of work that come with completing a mural, Spear finds himself playing a role in whichever community he’s painting in. When he spent three months in Salem, Spear befriended a Vietnam veteran and spoke with him twice a day.

“He came by to watch me work and I did my best to give my time to him and everybody else,” Spear says. “I write down everyone’s name and something I remember about them to have a reference. Especially in a small town, they tell me things like this never happen there.”

Meanwhile, a mural he did in New Franklin led to the sale of several mugs with the print on it, purchased by the woman who used to live in the house depicted in the mural. “That’s something I wasn’t expecting, but it’s all about doing the research so you can connect to people in that area,” Spear says.

In Columbia, one of Spear’s most meaningful projects for him and the community is the Blind Boone mural on College Avenue.

“When you’re working in an area, you start to know the people, and these people have the same struggles as each other … different color, same struggles,” he says. By bringing a historical figure of our town back to the forefront, he was able to unite the community in a similar way. “(Blind Boone) was a guy that really overcame a lot of obstacles throughout his life, and he did it with a lot of integrity. He’s an inspirational figure I think we could all look up to, so telling that story in a public mural is really nice.”

For Spear, art is the truest form of communication. “I’m not that skilled at talking, so my way of communicating is through my artwork,” he says. “(Art) plays an integral role in our society, just like music and writing. Otherwise, what are we fighting for?”

In addition to the mural on the Balsamo Warehouse – which will be completed by the end of summer – Spear is also completing a series depicting local artists, entitled “For the Love of Locals.” This gallery will open on April 18 at the Boone County Historical Society.

Next time you wander around Columbia, don’t forget to take in the art that makes this place feel like home.