South Downs Sienna V’
Biography
David exhibits landscape paintings across England and London, while his collectors span New York, Scotland, France, Portugal, Spain, Australia and China.
Born in London, to a Scottish father and English mother he first lived in Chelsea. His family then moved next to St. Leonards Forest in Sussex when he was five. This setting along with regular family trips to the Scottish countryside sparked a love of the space, freedom and drama found in natural landscapes.
After studying geography and then graduating with a Hons Degree in Art, David’s undergraduate correspondence with the Turner Prize winner Richard Deacon infused a fascination with the poetry of form, space, shape and surface found in sculpture. David exhibited sculptures, paintings and drawings in solo shows before going to work in industry on some of the large scale sculpture projects of Anish Kapoor and Anslem Kiefer. These experiences influenced his own approach to the processes of form and space in painting.
Following this, he spent time as a lecturer before becoming a full-time Studio Fine Art Painter based in Brighton and Hove. He paints on location en plein air across England, France and Italy and is planning a project to Scotland.
David has been selected by Somerset House Art Critic, Stephen Doherty, for the 2015 ING Discerning Eye Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London SW1. He exhibited again at the Discerning Eye 2017, this time as an invited artist. He reached the final judging for selection of the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize exhibition in 2015, Mall Galleries London and in 2016 selected for the exhibition. He was pre-selected for the Royal Society of British Artists Open Exhibition, Mall Galleries in 2016. In 2019, his work made final selection at the NEAC Open Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London SW1.
In 2019, he donated to the South Downs Trust Auction, Goodwood and has donated to the ‘Big Heart Auction’ exhibition at the Brighton Dome. He has been featured in Saatchi Art artists to look at – Invest in Art, 2015, Saatchi Featured Artist, 2016 and Saatchi Art’s Artist of the Day, 2016. In 2016, he won Paint Out/ Sussex Life Magazine Landscape Painter of the Year.
“The winning entry was chosen for its drama and powerful capturing of not only the landscape but also of how the light can shape that landscape. The work revels in the scale of the subject and plays with the concept of landscape through its square format. It is immersive: the viewer is seduced to come ever closer to the work, much as we are when the landscape is before us”
Sussex Life/ Paint Out, Landscape Painting of the Year, 2016 – South Downs Sienna V.
Statement
Painting outside ‘en plein air’ affords the kind of spatial freedom that means even a small painting is embodied with a large sense of space.
The en plein air locations for my work have been the South Downs hillsides and panoramas, Sussex woodland and waterways, the Hampshire New Forest, Tuscan mountains, Alps in the South of France and riversides in Avignon and Arles. I am presently painting protected wetlands and am planning a project to Scotland.
An en plein air landscape is a live interpretation which allows for an intuitive approach that lends the painting a first-person narrative. The feelings and thoughts that arise during the process of creating a landscape are recorded within the painting in ways that reach beyond my initial intention, which is primarily concerned with capturing the transience of life and our connection with nature.
Revisiting locations to paint on the same painting allows for the accumulation of further abstractions and rhythms, which are layered successively upon the surface over a number of days, recording changes in real time.
I am compelled to revisit familiar locations, while also grappling with the challenges of new locations. Regularly painting at the same location improves fluency; it also adds a little coolness to the process. Even where that location might be familiar, an element of struggle is still required, given the need to find a way around the changing conditions. This can lead to the heating up of responses and processes, as can the unfamiliarity of a new location. The mind is always working but the gut and the heart play a very strong role with en plein air.
In the studio, the process becomes both experiential and reflective as methods are more thought-oriented. Further stages of destruction and creation occur, leading to new surface, visual devices, motifs and colour harmony. This is an evolving process, partially formed from memory of the live locations and partially from the use of subsequent studio discoveries. When I develop paintings in this way, the elements of the original on-site marks are partially buried but still remain visible enough such that they can be visually excavated.
The brush marks, layered textures and painting rhythms aim to capture moments in time and duration. Some parts of the multi-layered compositions remain unpainted and abstract. If the viewer’s eye is drawn in and out, and back again, from up close to the painting’s surface and back out to see the whole painting then I hope to better invite an observation of the spatial interplay between the imagery, the surface and the whole of a the painting.
Exhibitions/ Prizes/ Projects/ Residencies/ Commissions/ Publications
Mall Galleries Online, London, SW1, April – July 2020
Cameron Contemporary Art, Festival Exhibition, Hove 2020
Cameron Contemporary Art, Winter Exhibition, Hove 2019
South Downs National Trust Auction, Goodwood, East Sussex, October 2019
Residency & Commissions, Highbrook Vineyard, Sussex, Autumn 2019
Cameron Contemporary Art Autumn Exhibition, Hove September 2019
Cameron Contemporary Art, Festival Exhibition, April – July 2019
JP Art Exhibition, Blackheath, London SE3 03A, 1st March – 7th April 2019
NEAC Annual Exhibition Final Round, Mall Galleries, London SW1, April 2019
Battersea Art Fair, Cameron Contemporary Art, C2, March 2019
Biscuit Factory Spring Exhibition, Newcastle, 1st March – 26th May 2019
Cameron Contemporary Art Gallery, Winter Show, 2nd Avenue, Hove, December 2018 – January 2019
Mall Galleries online, London SW1, August – December 2018
New Ashgate Gallery, Surrey, November – December 2018
Mall Galleries online, London SW1, April-August 2018
Nadia Waterfield, Hampshire, Autumn 2018
Gallery 57, Summer Show, Arundel, West Sussex – May-August 2018
Cameron Contemporary Art Gallery, Festival Show, May 2018 – June 2018, 2nd Avenue, Hove
Battersea AAF, Cameron Contemporary Gallery, London, March 2018
Wills Group Show, Putney Wandsworth, London, Jan. Feb. 2018
‘Making a Mark’ Art Blog review, 2017
The Discerning Eye Exhibition – ‘Invited Artist’ by Miranda Richardson (Actor, Art Collector and Selector) Mall Galleries, London, SW1, November, 2017
Cameron Contemporary Art Gallery, Winter Show, Nov. 2017 – Feb. 2018, 2nd Avenue, Hove
Gallery 57, Group Show, Arundel, West Sussex, Winter, 2017/2018
Gallery 57, Group Show, Arundel, West Sussex, Autumn, 2017
‘Featured Artist’ Cameron Contemporary Art Gallery Summer Show, Hove, East Sussex, 2017
‘Landscape Painter of the Year Winner 2016’ – Sussex Life Magazine/ Paint Out, exhibition, articles and an interview, January & April 2017
Battersea AAF, Cameron Contemporary Art, London, Spring 2017
Saatchi Art – ‘Artist of the Day’, December 2016
Cameron Contemporary Art Gallery, Winter Show, 2016, 2nd Avenue, Hove
Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize National Exhibition, 2016, Mall Galleries, London SW1
Cameron Contemporary Art Gallery, Summer Show 2016, 2nd Avenue, Hove
Phoenix Arts Association, Open Studios, May 2016
Saatchi Art, ‘New Artists Feature’, April 2016
ING/ Discerning Eye Exhibition 2015, Mall Galleries, London – selected by Stephen Doherty, Art Critic, Somerset House, London
ING/ Discerning Eye Exhibition 2015, Guildford House Gallery, Guildford, Surrey
Shortlisted for Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) Open Exhibition 2015, Mall Galleries, London, SW1
Saatchi Art chief Curator features ‘Sussex Downs Sunset XXVII’, ‘Invest in Art’, October 2015
Inside Sussex, Interview with artist, 2015
Artists’ Open Houses Exhibition, Brighton, 2015
Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2015 shortlist, Mall Galleries, London, SW1
Brighton May Festival Open Houses 2015
Art In Brighton, Publication
Big Heart Charity Art Auction, Brighton Dome Theatre, May 2015
A3 Exhibition, Phoenix Arts Association Gallery, Brighton Housing Trust Auction, November 2015
20 Painters Regional Exhibition, shortlist, 2014
Solo Exhibition, Horsham Art Centre, Capitol Theatre, ‘Configurations II’, Sculpture, 2001
Solo Exhibition, Horsham Art Centre, Capitol Theatre, ‘Configurations’, Sculpture, 2000
Articles/Interviews/ Reviews
Marking a Mark Blog review commentary ING Discerning Eye 2017, Mall Galleries, London SW1
‘Landscape Painter of the Year Winner 2016’ – Sussex Life Magazine/ Paint Out, exhibition, articles and an interview, January & April 2017
‘Inside Sussex’ Magazine Artist Interview, July 2016
Absolute Brighton, Art Wave article as Regional Art Festival Project Manager 2005
Arts Industry Roles
Sculptor – large Anish Kapoor, Anslem Kiefer sculptures, MDM -2006-2011
Team leader Galleries – ‘Frieze Art Fair’, Regents Park, 2006
Fund Raiser -‘Arts Council’ fund, ‘Soundwave Festival’, Cultural Services, 2007
Project Manager -‘Artwave Visual Arts Festival’, Lewes District Council, 2006 –2007
Gallery Committee member – Phoenix Arts, 2004
Reviews/ Testimonial
“David’s dramatic abstracted landscapes are a masterclass in light and tone, evoking the outdoors in its all awe, wildness and romanticism” Mall Galleries, London SW1, 2018
“I loved the landscape paintings … which have been selling very fast and I can well understand why!” – On ‘ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2017’ exhibits – ‘Making a Mark Blog’, Katherine Tyrrell (November 2017)
“I was drawn to ‘Sussex Downs Sunset XXVII’ so much is because of the incredible way it captures the mood and light of what is at first glance a dark day. It actually seems to get brighter as the day gets darker.” A. Barras, University of Brighton, 2016
“We love the dramatic and intensely colourful sky!” ‘Sussex Downs Sunset Crimson I’ – Big Heart Auction Team, Brighton Dome, 2015
Education
Manchester Metropolitan University – BA Hons Art and Design 3D/WMCT
University of Brighton – PGCE in Post Compulsory Education (FT)
Northbrook College – Foundation in Art Diploma
The College of Richard Collier – A Level: Art, Maths, Geography
Lecturing
Lecturer, Collyer’s Sixth Form – A Level Critical Studies & Art and Design
Lecturer, Sussex Downs College & EVOC, Art National Diploma/ Foundation in Art Studies
Lecturer, Varndean College – Landscape Painting
Sculpture Tutor, Sussex Downs College
Lecturer, Sussex Downs College, Lewes- A AS level- Art and 3D, Fine Art
Collections of Painting beyond the UK
Private Collection, New York
Private Collection, South of France
Private Collection, Tenerife
Private Collection, Portugal
Private collection, Sydney, Australia
Private collection, China
