42nd Street Challenge

David Michael Conner is an "expressionist":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressionist artist who uses color, perspective and composition in his acrylic and watercolor paintings to elicit a visceral reaction from viewers. As a fiction and entertainment writer, much of Conner’s work is inspired by haunting scenes or moments in literature, films or music that strike an emotional chord. He is also markedly inspired by commonalities among the world's mythologies and spiritual beliefs, and many of his paintings explore ideas of Gnosticism, Sumerian, Egyptian, and indigenous cultures of the Americas. Conner once read in a book called "The Secret Language of Birthdays" that the day of his birth, May 6, is "The Day of Artistic Materialized Fantasy"—perhaps the most concise explanation of his world view. Roll Call, the newspaper of Washington, D.C.'s Capitol Hill, described the artist's subject matter as "stunning renderings of city streets and psychedelic dwellings." He has been a finalist in The Artist’s Magazine’s annual abstract/expressionist painting competition, and his work is shown in and around Washington, D.C., where he lives and works for a higher education association. Conner holds a master’s degree of fine arts from George Mason University.