Light is the theme and, ultimately, the subject, of David Borenstein's paintings. His paintings evoke in the viewer that magical moment in a darkened theater when the stage comes to life. Color and content are secondary to light. "A painting without light has no life," says Borenstein. "It is a color sketch."

In Borenstein's paintings, light endows color and content with movement. His subjects, whether silhouettes before a fire, French farmhouses, fruit, or objects from his personal collection of antiques, are alive with the drama of illumination. Through he mastery of chiaroscuro, the nuanced artistic rendering of light and shadow, Borenstein creates dramatic worlds that the viewer wants to enter. His still lifes are not still; they are alive with the physics of light.

A native of Poland, Borenstein, trained in the techniques of the Old Masters. His vision is contemporary, but many of his techniques are time-consuming Old World processes that few contemporary artists have studied. Borenstein often grinds his own pigments and creates his own mediums. He prefers linen canvases, thick paint, and rich, sweeping brush strokes.

When beginning a painting, Borenstein first crafts an underpainting that defines relationships between light and shadow. He applies layers of paint with brushes and palette knives, and then scrapes or sands some of it off, building up and breaking down the surface in a continuous process. He employs the painstaking Old World technique of fumato ("smoke"), a transparent glaze that creates atmosphere and conveys a rich feeling of age.

Borenstein's paintings have been exhibited and commissioned internationally for decades. His work is featured in many prominent public and private collections.