David Underwood has been making unique fine art photographs and mixed media artworks for 40 years. His composite photography and mixed media work expand the language of photography beyond the limitations of single-frame imagery, and make significant contributions to the continuum of the history of image-text and photo/mixed-media artwork. His work is included in the permanent collections of 16 art museums around the USA, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Underwood has held 36 solo exhibitions of his work, and had work included in more than 150 group exhibitions, most of which were juried by prominent curators and other art professionals. His fine artwork is currently represented by The Haen Gallery, in Asheville, North Carolina, and his stock photography is represented internationally by Universal Images Group.

Underwood was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, the third of six children to a musician mother and an architect father. In 1982 he earned his BA in Photography from Carson-Newman College (now University) in Tennessee, where he attended because of the college's unique major in Photography, and to be near the hiking and outdoor opportunities of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. With work in various 2-D and 3-D media, Underwood finished his Master of Fine Arts Degree in Studio Art at Florida State University in 1990, and was recruited to start teaching back at his undergraduate alma mater in Tennessee the same year.

Professor Underwood retired from teaching Art and Photography at Carson-Newman University in May 2025. He Chaired the Art Department for 13 years (2000 to 2013), and led his department through two successful accreditation cycles with the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. Over his 35 years at the university, he taught 22 different college courses, seven of which he initiated and created, and he updated the curriculum for the university’s major in Photography twice during his tenure. Over the 33 years he has served as the Director of the university’s two art galleries, Underwood directed and curated more than 300 exhibitions of work by invited professional artists and current students.

David is married to the poet and writer Susan O’Dell Underwood, who retired from her position as Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Carson-Newman University. She has published three volumes of poetry, and in 2022 published the epic American novel GENESIS ROAD. Together, the couple have travelled and photographed in 49 USA states and 11 foreign countries, and have visited more than 150 national parks and monuments.

My composite photographs and mixed-media work involving multiple photographs and other media expands the language of Photography beyond the imitations of single-frame imagery. I combine original photographs with drawing, painting, text, and/or found objects to create expanded meaning. Sometimes the photographs in an artwork were all made at the same time and location, but more often the photographs were made many miles and perhaps many years apart, and the reasons for the joining and juxtapositions relate to both potential content and pure aesthetics. I use a variety of photographic materials and methods, including digital, analog, and alternative/antique techniques.

Materialness and physicality are important in my work. I use substrates of museum board, paper, and wood for various different artworks, sometimes combined with sheet metal, multiple painted surfaces, or unique framing. I make all my photographs and painted surfaces as archival as possible for rich longevity, but I also often drive nails or staples directly though these surfaces. My image-text works reveal readable text within the artworks, but the images and text are not meant to necessarily illustrate each other. Instead, the images (of either sharp photographs or minimalistic painting) and the text offer the viewer multiple pathways of interpretation and meaning.