David Park was a painter and a pioneer of the Bay Area Figurative School of painting during the 1950s. David Park was part of the post-World War II alumnae of the San Francisco Art Institute which was called the California School of Fine Arts at the time.
He revived an interest in figurative art, at first experimenting with still-abstracted forms that relied on color for their impact, dynamics and warmth. Park, along with Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff, broke away from the philosophy of painting promoted by Clyfford Still, who taught at the Institute, forming what would later be called the Bay Area Figurative Movement.
Their influence may be seen in the work of later Bay Area Figurative School artists such as Paul John Wonner, Nathan Oliveira, Manuel Neri, Henry Villierme and Joan Brown.