David Best

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David Best (b. 1945) is an internationally-renowned American sculptor. He is well-known for building immense temples out of recycled wood sheets (discarded from making toys and other punch-outs) for the Burning Man festivals, where they are then burnt to the ground in a spectacle of light and heat.

Best received a master's degree in sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute, where he first took classes at the age of six. His commitment to public art seems rooted in 1960s-era idealism. His works — ceramic sculpture, collages and more — have been shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Oakland Museum, the San Jose Museum of Art and elsewhere.

Best first began collaborating with others, 20 years ago, when he embarked upon a sideline: stripping down vehicles and giving them total sculptural makeovers, using recycled materials and found objects, often retrieved from dumps and dumpsters. Since then, he has created sculptures from the skeletons of 36 cars and two buses, and worked with more than 10,000 people.

Best took a break from the Temple Project in 2005 and 2006, asking artist Mark Grieve to temporarily helm the Project for him. He plans on resuming the Temple Project for Burning Man 2007.

There is hope and talk for 2007 for a collaboration involving sitar and tabla Indian Music with artist Anand Bhatt. The two also hope to implement David Best's vision of Indian-influenced art.