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David Palladini Has Passed Away

March 14, 2019

I have just learned that my good friend David Palladini has passed away. Palladini was a brilliant and internationally renowned illustrator, known for his book & magazine covers, Tarot deck designs, movie posters, and, of course, his iconic artwork for The Eyes of the Dragon.

Over the past few years, we became close friends. David had an important part to play in the genesis of Suntup Editions. The Eyes of the Dragon Art Portfolio was our first publication, and it was this experience that helped me navigate through some challenging times and go on to build this press.

We were brought together at a point in our lives when we each needed what the other was capable of providing. David gave me counsel, insight, inspiration, and energy where it was lacking; and through the publication of the portfolio, it brought further recognition to his work, not only of the illustrations from that novel, but also to the work he created throughout his 40 year career. David would often say that the last few years of his life were the happiest as a result.

David Palladini lived his life through art, and it is through his art that he lives on. He was a good man, an authentic man, and a good friend who I will dearly miss. His closest brother Mario Palladini wishes to express his deepest gratitude, on behalf of himself and his family, to all those who supported David’s work.

“Despite having lived in society, I always felt I was playing a role, being sensible, congenial, mannerly, and stable. But out in nature, just me and my easel and canvas, the real me emerged…unstable, mercurial, perhaps anti-social, forever in conflict when encountering shallow falseness in others. Being alone allowed me to talk to the birds and flowers without shame, to shout at gathering storm clouds, telling them to hold off until I finished. The happiest times of my life are when I am alone, watching my hand do amazing things—when my mind blends with nature until I no longer exist. At these moments, I am finally complete.” – David Palladini

Rest in Peace, my friend.

Paul Suntup with David Palladini in 2016
  1. Suntup Editions logomark

    Ariel Bosi

    I’m very sorry for your and his family’s loss. He was a great artist and will live through his works. RIP

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    Mark Strong

    Sending my deepest condolences to the Palladini family, his life-partner Margreta, and Paul in this difficult time. I honor you David, my friend, with love and cherished memories of an artistic life well-lived and done on your own terms… a true original. Thank you for your friendship, kindness and inspirational art. I will miss you dearly, but am glad to know that you are now free and at one with the infinite universe of light and love, which you were always a part of, and so graciously shared with all of us here through your life and art. Your legacy will live on forever with you. Peace my Brother -Mark

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    Lee Everett

    I am deeply saddened by the news of David Palladini’s passing. David and I were very good friends at Pratt, we sang and played music together and even hosted a radio show.. I would very much like to get a signed print of The Eyes of the Dragon cover or some other of his works. Please let me know what might be available. Sincerely, Lee Everett

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    michael doukas

    Very sorry for your loss Paul. That paragraph written by him you have posted is very nice. Sending good thoughts to you and his family.

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    Marc Goldfinger

    My deepest condolences to you, Paul, and also to the family of David Palladini. A great loss!

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    Eric Zimmerman

    I love you brother…

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    benoit

    I came across David Palladini’s ”Aquarian Tarot” some time ago. The more i use this deck, the more i feel deeply inspired by its intelligence, sensivity and empathy, although it needs some time to see it all shine trough a seemingly quite rigid graphic design. Tonight i felt like searching for some informations about David Palladini, and find out that he passed away this year. This touches me in an deep and incomprehensible way. My thoughts to his partner, family and friends. He certainly is a beautiful soul.

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    Tony Reinemann

    I was just reminiscing on the artists in my past that inspired and taught me valuable lessons on the process of creating. I am saddened to read that David is not with us anymore. I was a student of his in a class he held at the School of Visual Arts back in the very early 1980s.
    Carl Titolo was another of my teachers who I see also passed in 2019.
    I just felt I wanted to respond to say that the fullness of my life is a little emptier now with reading this news.

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    Rich

    Just seeing this. David was one of my favorite and most inspiring teachers at SVA in NYC. I was lucky to have him in my life.

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    RH

    I just love his beautiful ‘Aquarian Tarot’ and ‘The New Palladini Tarot!

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    Tobey Crockett

    My mom and her boyfriend at the time were friends with David in his early years around Pratt (circa 1970?). I was just a kid but we loved visiting him and his partner in their houseboat on the Hudson, accessible via Riverside Park on the upper Westside. I even have a drawing in the tarot deck style that he did, sort of me with my little blonde bob & bangs. I loved that Tarot deck, something I learned about for the very first time from him, and it was only today, reading these tributes that I realized what an influence that must have had on me, as I have made my own one-of-a-kind handmade oracle deck too. I hadn’t made the connection, silly me. What a pity to find him again, but only to learn of his passing. Rest in power & pleasure, o muse….

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