Few works in David’s collection carry the weight, history, and raw spirit of On Your Knees.

First created in 1975 in David’s Pittsburgh apartment, the original drawing emerged from a period of youthful rebellion, experimentation, and artistic awakening. The apartment itself reflected that restless energy, a world of dramatic black-and-white contrasts, a kitchen floor painted like the “Yellow Brick Road,” and a refrigerator wrapped in tinfoil. It was unconventional, unruly, and entirely David’s.

The work was born from the collision of the things that were feeding his imagination at the time: Lina Wertmüller’s Seven Beauties and The Velvet Underground’s Venus in Furs. Those influences found their way into David’s visual language, but On Your Knees was never simply an homage. It was an expression of an artist beginning to discover his own voice.

Then life intervened. A violent eviction destroyed the original On Your Knees, along with nearly everything David owned. But the idea and the impulse behind it survived.

Years later, in New York City, David recreated the work from memory and instinct. That new incarnation went on to be exhibited in a solo show at the Plaza Hotel, carrying with it something the original could never have possessed: the accumulated history of everything David had lived through since he first put pencil to paper in Pittsburgh.

On Your Knees has remained alongside David through the birth of his children, countless moves, a fire, and decades of artistic and personal transformation. Its surface carries more than an image; it carries time. Every mark becomes part of a larger story about survival, reinvention, memory, and the stubborn persistence of creativity.

This is not simply a work David created twice. It is a work that, in many ways, grew up with him. On Your Knees is available for purchase with its history, its scars, and its story included.

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