David Airhart was born in Hamilton, Montana, in 1953. After graduating from Boise State University in 1975, he became an influential presence in Boise’s emerging art community and played a formative role in the development of contemporary art in Idaho.

As a founding member of the Boise Art Group, Airhart helped build a vital platform for artists and audiences. He later founded and directed Art Attack Gallery, where he presented more than seventy exhibitions, bringing artists of regional and national distinction into conversation and helping establish a more ambitious, independent contemporary art scene in Idaho.

Alongside this work, Airhart sustained his own distinctive painting practice and received an Idaho Commission on the Arts Painting Fellowship in 1986. He is now based in Portland, Oregon, and his work has been exhibited around the country. His contributions as both artist and gallery director form an enduring part of the region’s cultural history.