As early as 1961, the
conservative New
York Times critic John Canaday was wondering whether «in the end it should prove that he has really gone in a
circle, carrying abstract expressionism back to its figurative start.»
«In fashionable art - world
circles the paintings of David Bates are considered
conservative if not reactionary or, at best, guilty pleasures, if they are considered at all,» wrote the New
York Times» co-chief art critic, Roberta Smith, in 2006.