Bio
David Z Orban is a New Jersey–based artist creating colorful still-life paintings that merge painterly realism with abstraction. Drawing from both representational and abstract traditions, his work highlights the overlooked beauty of utilitarian objects such as tools, toys, and balloons, inviting reflection on the everyday in a culture shaped by technology and high-gloss consumerism.
Orban’s paintings occupy a compelling space between realism and expressive mark-making. Working in what he describes as “painterly realism,” Orban transforms antique toys, hand tools, and utilitarian objects into visually dynamic compositions charged with color, light, and spatial tension.
After earning his MFA and establishing an early career in large-scale figurative painting, Orban stepped away from the studio for nearly two decades. His return to painting in 2010 marked a pivotal shift. Moving away from the figure, he began constructing intricate still-life arrangements drawn from a growing collection of antique objects. These artifacts—often bearing the marks of use and age—anchor the work in material history while the heightened lighting and saturated color bring them vividly into the present.
Orban’s compositions are intentionally dense and immersive. Balloons, balls, toys, extension cords, and unexpected juxtapositions create rhythm and movement, guiding the viewer’s eye throughout the canvas. From a distance, the paintings can read as almost photographic; up close, the physicality of the paint and the vitality of the brushwork become unmistakable. This balance between illusion and surface gives the work both immediate impact and lasting visual interest.
Rooted in tradition yet distinctly contemporary in its color and spatial energy, Orban’s paintings stand as thoughtful meditations on material culture—works that feel both timeless and unmistakably of the present.
For collectors, Orban’s paintings offer more than technical virtuosity. They hold emotional and intellectual depth. The antique objects serve as quiet witnesses to time—suggesting continuity, memory, and human presence without relying on overt narrative. The result is work that rewards sustained viewing and reveals new relationships over time.
“I try to find a balance between achieving a ‘realistic’ rendering and allowing the physicality of the paint — and the ‘process’ of painting — to remain visible. There’s no implied narrative in these paintings, allowing the viewer to engage with the work on their own terms.”
Born in 1955 in Trenton, NJ, Orban received his AA in Visual Arts from Mercer County College, where he studied painting and printmaking with Mel Leipzig and Frank Rivera. He received his BA and MFA degrees from Brooklyn College, where he studied with Philip Pearlstein, Lois Dodd, Sam Gelber, and Al Terris.
Orban began exhibiting his work in 1975, and had his first solo exhibition in 1978 at The Sixth Estate Gallery in Brooklyn. That was followed in 1981 by a show at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, in Trenton, NJ. Subsequent solo exhibitions included 1985, 1987, and 1988 at Blue Mountain Gallery, an artists’ co-op then located in SoHo in New York City. He went on to participate in numerous group and solo exhibitions in the Northeast corridor through 1992, including at the New Jersey State Museum, the Newark Museum, the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, the Jersey City Museum, the Hunterdon Art Museum, and at several colleges and universities.
The recipient of a 2026 Individual Artist Fellowship grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Orban has received several awards for his work and has been published. A retired B2B technology marketer, Orban is also an accomplished musician, leading The Mojo Gypsies, a blues/R&B quartet that he founded in 1998. In addition, Orban taught undergraduate-level classes for several years, at Mercer County College; Princeton Art Association; Artworks; and most recently at Rider University, where he taught advanced web and multimedia techniques.
Orban works out of a small basement studio in an 18th century farmhouse just outside of Trenton, NJ, that he shares with his wife, the artist Mary Yess.
Born
1955, Trenton, New Jersey
Education
Brooklyn College, City University of New York – B.A., 1978 cum laude; M.F.A., 1983, Charles Shaw Fellow
Studied with Philip Pearlstein, Lois Dodd, Sam Gelber, Milet Andrejevic, and Al Terris
Trenton State College (now known as The College of New Jersey) – 1976-77
Studied with Hiroshi Murata and Wendell Brooks
Mercer County College, West Windsor, NJ – A.A., 1975, with honors
Studied with Mel Leipzig and Frank Rivera