Dave Abrahams (David Earl Spencer Abrahams ll, March 06, 1970) is a noted Toronto-based visual artist, working predominantly in new media.

Home Life
The youngest of three children and the only member of his family born in Canada, Abrahams grew up just outside Toronto's downtown, in Malton region. As a child, Abrahams was decidedly reserved, keeping mostly to himself, pursuing interests and activities that bore little influence from his home life. Abrahams was, in fact, so committed to his individual style, that he employed a personal tailor from the age of thirteen, his most recurrent request being for double-breasted shirts. Rumors have circulated that the fact he was chastised as a youth for never being without a paperback were due to the fact that Abrahams was, in fact, illiterate, however this has been disproved manifold, with the artist reciting, at length, from the nearest available copy of prose. Abrahams's interest in the arts crossed media as his cousin, a music promoter, gave him access to Rap and Hip Hop acts and introduced him to a wide range of musical styles. Abrahams also became deeply involved in the Toronto music scene, acting as an escort for acts like Public Enemy and Ice-T.

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Education
During his teenage years, his interest in visual art also piqued and in his final year of high school, he applied to the Ontario College Of Art (OCA), in Toronto, where he was accepted into the film program, after completing a general foundation year. While he became deeply absorbed in filmmaking and storytelling, Abrahams would later branch out into the field of design, focusing intently on graphics and communication. Early success at OCA whet his appetite in the field of commercial art and its applications and though he graduated with a successful artistic flair, he elected to continue his studies, applying his talents as a graphic designer in the burgeoning field of new media design as an honour student at George Brown College. When David Abrahams graduated from George Brown, he had achieved "Dean's List" status, receiving an award for Outstanding Editorial Design.

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Career
Before he had graduated from George Brown, Abrahams was tendering design contracts for a number of projects, particularly for print-based applications, such as corporate identity and poster design, his work drawing comparisons to Swiss graphic design from the 1940s. While working with Lisa Kiss, Abrahams created the logotype for film company Divani Films which garnered considerable acclaim in the design community. "(The) logo for (Divani) encapsulates the very point of graphic design. The name of the film company, has become the medium it's representing". Also working with Kiss, he assisted in the production of the full colour printed collection of artist Jeremy Blake. David Abrahams's work has taken him to Japan, Taiwan, and throughout the U.S. and Canada, where he is widely recognized as a groundbreaking designer. Under the mentorship of Edward Lam and Deborah Moss, David Abrahams learned classic techniques for achieving modern finishes and graphics and used this to highlight his own brand of design. Commissioned in 1995 to create bold, graphic artwork for the Tennoji mall, in Osaka, Abrahams made artistic and cultural impacts on the surrounding landscape and its populace, which would continue as his work took him throughout Asia, acting as artist and consultant. Upon his return to Canada in the mid-1990s, he began to explore media outside 2D, capitalizing on his considerable woodworking skills. This period produced his popular "Chris" chair and like-designed, ceramic sculptures. In some of his more critically charged pieces, he began exploring identity through popular culture and created a series of lightboxes, with screen-printed designs, which sold across Toronto, kicking off a wave of copies still found today. His sculptural work, part of the indelible mark he has left across the world, resides in private collections in North America, Scandinavia and Japan.

Some of his work has transcended companies and grown accordingly. For example, his supergraphics application for X-Design, in wood veneer, was a radical departure from his earlier work, which was limited to a flat application of paint. "Radion", completed in 2005, was the culmination of using strips of veneer to achieve something with more tactility than a typical mural. His strength as a commercial artist lies in the capacity to encapsulate a client's attitude and message in a single image (or series of images, in the case of television advertisements), staying true to his own "look" and making his mark through the use of contemporary graphic design. Abrahams continues to work in a number of styles within each medium (print, web, sculptural, etc.), each unique to the artist and amongst his many, varied talents.

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Industrial Strength Graphics
Through a mutual acquaintance, Dave Abrahams met Jake Bauming in Toronto, in the fall of 1997. Hiring Bauming as an employee for Abrahams's established supergraphics business, Urban Effects, the two quickly became friends and Abrahams employed Bauming for a number of months until the youthful employee almost removed his thumb on the job. The two shared similar interests in music, film, and social issues. In 1999, the pair mused over the idea that they should establish their own company, unsatisfied with the calibre and amount of work being produced by large ad agencies and existing graphics firms. Two years later, Abrahams set the plans in motion and with Bauming, founded Industrial Strength Graphics (ISG) which quickly became known as an alternative to traditional graphics production and advertising. Taking a gamble, the pair stuck to their initial plan of acting as graphics house and agency (an unconventional prospect), but the gamble paid off and the company was able to secure a steady flow of clients who were willing to take a calculated risk, opting for fresh artwork and ideas. Though ISG had begun working only with small clients who were willing to let the creative duo take full reign of projects, the company would later tender contracts with larger concerns, such as Turner Network Television (TNT), Delta Airlines and Cartoon Network. ISG's trademark styles, however, continued to be called upon, regardless of the client's reputation or size.

In 2003, Abrahams and Bauming began printing textiles as an unmoderated creative offshoot of Industrial Strength Graphics, where they needed only answer to each other. Encouraged to expand their initial run, the pair sold their first collection to Loop Clothing Lounge in Kitchener, Ontario and Iodine in Toronto. the two took their clothing to Japan for a trial run to test its popularity at Tokyo's Design Festa and after a number of television and radio interviews, including Inter FM's Tokyo Interactive radio programme, hosted by Guy Perryman, the artists scheduled a meeting with buyers from Japan's counter-culture Beams Shops in Tokyo. Because of the unprecedented attention the clothing designs received, the two decided to break the textile component away from Industrial Strength Graphics and isolate it as its own entity. This became known as Monster Tuff, which produced screen printed clothing for men & women, as well as art prints and stickers. The current status of Monster Tuff is unclear but there are rumours that it has been put on hold by its owners, citing a desire to focus only on Industrial Strength Graphics until the parent company is more firmly established, before dealing with what has become another business rather than a hobby.

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Trivia

• Abrahams's love for sweets (particularly chocolate) is well documented, including an incident as a 3 year old when he snuck out of bed, left his parent's apartment and was discovered in a convenience store across the street, lying on his back on the floor with a sullied face, after gorging himself on candy bars. Additionally, he saved his allowance for a period, purchased as many candy bars as he could afford, broke them apart in a bowl, poured milk on the concoction and called it "cereal".

• one of the leading authorities on chocolate and the cacao plant.

• a noted specialist of television programming from 1970 (reruns)-1986 due to a heavier than average viewing and notation.