DAVID GEISER

GEISER--David, an artist whose career ranged from the underground comics he created in San Francisco in the late 1960s and 1970s to heavily textured mixed media works after moving to New York in 1979, died unexpectedly of heart disease in his sleep at home in Springs on October 14. He was 73. A prolific artist, his work from the underground comics early in his career to recent drawings reflected not only his wit and the eccentricity of his vision but also his remarkable draftsmanship. His body of work also includes abstract mixed-media pieces created on irregular shapes of parchment, a series he returned to over a period of 20 years, and lavish, layered oil paintings featuring organic forms on board. A recipient of a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Mr. Geiser was represented by Butters Gallery in Portland, OR, and exhibited his work at galleries and museums on the East End and throughout the United States. The noted art historian, curator, and museum director Peter Selz said of Mr. Geiser's art, "David Geiser's work is about transforming matter into spirit. His stunning pieces ascend from the basic life force of nature." David Montague Geiser was born in Rochester on June 28, 1947, to Donald Geiser and the former Louise Shields. After graduating from the University of Vermont in 1969, he drove his Volkswagen bus to San Francisco over the next six years he produced a series of countercultural comic books and designed posters for rock concerts. He left San Francisco in 1976 and spent two years in Paris, where he studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, before settling in SoHo in 1979. He moved to East Hampton in 2001. "In recent years, he had taken to a schedule of watching sunrise over the ocean, sunset over the sound and was known to pull over his car and move turtles from one side of the road to the other as they were crossing," according to his son Cameron Geiser of Montara, CA. In addition to his son, Mr. Geiser is survived by his partner since 1999, Ms. Mercedes Ruehl, another son, Jake Javier Ruehl of East Hampton, two grandchildren, Dylan and Bryce Geiser of Montara, and sisters, Ann Louise Dwyer of Rochester and Jody Meyer of Lake George, NY. A previous wife, Gabrielle Selz, also survives. His first wife, Virginia Lee Tombs, died before him. A celebration of Mr. Geiser's life and art and a dispersal of his ashes will take place in East Hampton in the spring.