Where the art is

You've heard of cubism. Let me introduce you to cubiclism.

Cubicle Art is about bringing art into everyday life. If you're unfortunate enough to work in one of those tiny cubicles that populate modern office buildings, why not brighten it up with an original painting? That's the philosophy of David 23, a New York artist who creates small acrylic paintings that are specially designed to hang on office walls. 'Every place everywhere in the universe should have art,' he says. 'Cubicle Art can be that art.'

David 23 is not, of course, his real name - 'David is my name and 23 is an enigma' - but his presence on this website should give you more than a clue as to what his real name is. As well as being an artist, he's a composer, recording engineer, lighting designer and musician. He also has a job at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, where - guess what - he works in a cubicle.

Most of his paintings have bright colours and bold, cartoonish designs featuring people, animals and abstract images. They're just what you need to cheer up a really dull office. But it's not all happy honey bees and primary colour palettes: in other paintings the themes and colours are rather darker. David 23 was living close to the World Trade Center in September 2001, so perhaps it isn't too surprising that some of his work evokes painful emotions.

David 23's work isn't universally appreciated, however. He describes the people who run the Alternative Online Artists website as 'a bunch of snobs' because they refused to include a link to his site. ('Just a stupid link. All I wanted was a link and they wouldn't give it to me... All I wanted was a Pepsi and she wouldn't give it to me...')