2023—2024

After the completion of a set of 365 miniature seascapes – painted onto antique tins over a period of three years – David began work on a dynamic collection of mostly abstract artworks. These were first exhibited at Tatha Gallery (Fife) as part of an exhibition he co-curated called Slow Praxis. Works have subsequently been shown at Christie’s (London) and The Watermill Gallery (Aberfeldy) ahead of a larger exhibition set to take place at The Scottish Gallery in September 2024. This will be David’s tenth solo exhibition since graduating in 2010 and will feature a range of expressive styles, media and surface types. Conceptually, these works lead on from his 2019 exhibition Rising Horizon.

“I started the Slow Praxis seascapes in the summer of 2022, after having spent the three previous years working almost exclusively on a small scale. In these works, I’ve gradually applied expressive layers of oil in abstract shapes onto vintage industrial canvases and large format nautical maps pasted to board. Like the telling and re-telling of a story, I’ve traced and re-traced loops and curves, following familiar channels to build thick swells of paint. These paintings see my mark-making style inverted, with more emphasis placed on the negative space. Suggestive of sustainable practices, the titles of these paintings possess a meditative quality, much like the layering process of their creation.”