By Martha Underwood
Killeen Daily Herald
The American flag on the mezzanine railing with Spiderman upside down on the ceiling above is the eye-catching first view of the art exhibit in Killeen's airport lobby.
Artist David Svoboda is showing oil and sculpture works that draw amusement or other light emotions from his audience. The exhibit is on in the lobby mezzanine through June.
"Art is just having fun," he said.
A good example is the papier- mache man lifting himself out of the oil on canvass portrait to level his frame. The title, "I hate being crooked," reveals his thoughts and his personality � a fastidious man who wants it straight, even though he musses his suit and tie in the effort.
A portrait momentarily coming to life is ridiculous, yet it mirrors our own thoughts when a picture is not hung straight.
Airport gift shop attendant Elizabeth Costa loves seeing the pregnant lady depicted in "My Baby," from her cash register, she said. The sculpture is of woman in a blue maternity dress cradling her off-center tummy with her hands.
"She reminds me of me," said Costa. "One day I'd wake up and my son would be on one side, the next day on the other."
Svoboda said he had a rough childhood and young adulthood. "I wish I'd realized years ago that drugs and alcohol would not make me happy," he said.
After finding the Lord, he learned to disregard the lies of his youth and discovered that he was better than he was told, he said.
Svoboda's joy in life certainly shows. He has obtained an education and a good job, married a wonderful woman and is a father of three, he said.
"The Marriage" shows the coalescing of two souls and lives, each becoming better in the relationship.
It is Damion Hosey's favorite sculpture in the exhibit. The man's silver head has a gold part painted on his forehead and brain, while his wife's gold head has a silver part, illustrating their completeness in each other.
At the base, their different paths become linked and yet separate, forming a new and different-color path.
"The bottom is like an anchor, and they are intertwined around each other," he said.
The exhibit is open during airport hours, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., through June. The public is invited to a reception for the artist at an airport conference room on May 10 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Svoboda works as a neurodiagnostic technologist at Metroplex Hospital. He has sold three artworks on the Internet. Others can be seen at www.geocities.com/oilsbydave.
Contact Martha Underwood at [email protected]