My father painted this work in his Last Supper series sometime around 1996 or 1997. I remember asking him why he added the name of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich to the title. He told me he had been listening intently to the entire series of Shostakovich’s string quartets over that past winter and added the composers name because the influence of the music was so strong that the finished work had as much ‘Shostakovich’ in it as it did ‘Last Supper’.

My father loved Shostakovich's music, and not just the quartets but also the symphonies, piano music and various other works. I think he considered Shostakovich a kindred soul. Not because their lives bore any resemblance at all, but because they had a similar respect for the history of their respective artforms - a reverence to tradition - and at the same time a shared world view of the absurdity of life. I think you can see the acknowledgement of life's absurdity throughout David's work, and I certainly hear it in the music of Shostakovich.

For those not familiar with Shostakovich's work and especially his string quartets, this link will give you a small sample of this complex and powerful music - SL