With a realization that mark-making was perhaps born from a quest for immortalization, fine artist David King Reuben began to sketch around the forms of his loved ones as they lay upon his canvases. The London–based painter, sculptor, installation artist, and musician resonated with some of the earliest known artistic renderings, those of hands, found in cave paintings across continents. In many ways, we’re still trying to leave that same trace,” Reuben tells Surface. What began with depictions of his father extended into self-portraits and portraits of loved ones. “I started taking the geometric shapes I had found within those traced bodies and turning them into organic geometric paintings,” Reuben says.