About Me

My name is David Barile (buh-RILL), and I was born in 1972 in the San Francisco Bay Area, where as a child I explored many creative outlets, including: drawing, animation flip-books, computer programming, painting miniatures, modeling clay, writing poetry, woodwork, and daydreaming.

I moved to Los Angeles in 1991 to study Fine Art and Film and Animation at UCLA. The last day of my freshman year in college I took magic mushrooms, which marked the beginning of a lifelong fascination with psychedelics.

After college I got my first animation job at a children's software company. I then left the working world to travel to Europe, and later around the globe to gain life experience and to study the art and history of other cultures. During my 25 years in LA, I worked as an animator, web designer, and video game programmer, the influences of which can be seen in my paintings.

My interest in psychedelics led me to Ayahuasca, a visionary plant medicine from the Amazon. Over the course of ten years I participated regularly in ceremonies with a shaman, including a trip to Peru in 2016. I credit Ayahuasca for freeing me from the “mental programming of my upbringing and culture”, which resulted in me leaving the Los Angeles “rat race” in 2017, and moving to Mexico to reinvent my life.

Here's a comment about my artwork:
After years of sitting with Mamasita Ayahuasca, I feel my consciousness has been infused with her spirit, and doorways to mystical realms have opened within me. I do my part to meditate daily, observe nature, study the art of indigenous cultures, expose myself to various energies I would like to incorporate in my artwork. However, it would be absurd to personally take credit for the creation of the art that channels through me. I basically touch my pen to a paper and start drawing, and when I'm done, there's a painting blueprint before me. The less I attempt to control the process, the better the final result. I never cease to be astounded when I witness a unique design manifest through my hand when moments before there was a blank page.
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I live in San Miguel, Baja California, and continue to add to my body of work to display in local galleries.