DAVID WEBB: Fragmentarium

DAVID WEBB: FRAGMENTARIUM

dalla Rosa Gallery 11.10 - 09.11.2013

dalla Rosa Gallery | 121 Clerkenwell Road | London EC1R 5BY | dallarosagallery.com

David Webb, Tourist Smoking Room (Gold), detail, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 50 x 50 cm

DAVID WEBB: FRAGMENTARIUM 11 October – 9 November 2013 Fragmentarium explores personal memories and incidents from David Webb’s family history, collected in a new body of work that includes paintings and works on paper. What at a glance seems to be abstraction is in fact representational - we see condensed recollections that gather archetypical forms, characterised by the vivid colours of memory.

This perceived integration of abstract and figurative language is a distinctive trait of Webb’s practice, as painter Eleanor Moreton writes: ‘Even at their darkest Webb’s paintings have lightness and luminosity. Working and erasing until an essence of the original image or idea is all that remains, it is often at this point that the original motif is no longer readable. There is no question that they can be a purely aesthetic experience and can meet their audience on the shared ground of beauty. Nevertheless, they have a narrative thread.’

Webb looks at Sienese Renaissance painters such as Sassetta and the Lorenzetti brothers for solidity and volume, and Matisse for fluidity of colour and line. The formal construction of each composition gives equal importance to the centre and the periphery of the canvas. Location is crucial. Light, colours and contrast of places such as Canada, Mexico, Cyprus and Britain inform the tone of each painting.

The work included in Fragmentarium continues themes relating to ancestral stories of travel, specifically a single journey taken by my Grandmother and Mother in 1955, when they returned permanently to the UK from Tanzania. The accounts of their migration were often incomplete and imprecise, and I feel the relevance for me was not the emphatic recounting of history, but rather the sentiment that surrounded what happened. I aim to find this within my work; often obliquely, sometimes using their letters, photographs and objects from the time to develop and pare down shapes, and re-imagine colour. The imagery is typically and purposely evasive and the figure/motif fluctuates within a space between flat abstraction and a more traditional representation of the landscape, seascape or interior.

In addition are paintings relating to more personal experiences of place and relocation; a sense of shifting, setting down, and collecting in an emotional, perceptive, sense.

For example, my immediate surroundings - Deptford Creek’s sparkly grey mud and detritus; still life objects, or the landscape around Lemba in Cyprus - so important in my education and development.

(David Webb, September 2013)

David Webb, Parcheesi (Twist Grey), 2013, acrylic and pumice on canvas, 81 x 66 cm

ABOUT THE ARTIST After studying Fine Art in Aberystwyth, David Webb (born 1973) obtained an MA in Painting at Canterbury Christ Church University College and a postgraduate diploma at the Cyprus College of Art (Lemba). He was also awarded residencies at The MacDowell Colony (Peterborough, New Hampshire), Yaddo, (New York), and a fellowship at Vermont Studio Center. Now based in London, Webb has exhibited extensively in Britain and abroad, notably: solo shows at Transition and APT Galleries (London), and group exhibitions at the Siena Art Institute (Italy), Flowers East (London), The Painting Center (New York City). Webb has work in private and corporate collections in Australia, Britain and the USA, and in the collections of the Siena Art Institute and the National Library of Wales.

For further information contact hello@dallarosagallery.com All installation photos by Philip John Jones.

above: Fragmentarium, installation view opposite: David Webb, Tourist Smoking Room (Fragmentarium), 2013, acrylic on canvas, 183 x 131 cm

Fragmentarium, installation view

DAVID WEBB (b 1973, lives and works in London) Education 2001-2002 Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art. Cyprus College of Art, Lemba, Cyprus 1998-2000 MA Fine Art (painting). Canterbury Christ Church University College,UK 1999 Painting Summer School. Cyprus College of Art, Lemba, Cyprus 1994-1997 BA (Hons) Fine Art. School of Art, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK 1992-1993 Foundation Course in Art. Hastings College of Art, UK Solo Exhibitions 2012 Tourist Smoking Room. Transition Gallery, London 2010 Oaxaca Stadium. Arch Gallery. London 2009 David Webb New Paintings. SE 1 Gallery, London 2008 David Webb New Works on Paper. Osokool Gallery, London 2007 David Webb Paintings. The Conservatoire, London 2006 New York Paintings. APT Gallery, London 2004 Cyprus Paintings. First Floor Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia 2003 Different. Florence Trust Gallery, London 2002 Hearts and Crosses. Cyprus College of Art, Lemba, Cyprus Selected Group Exhibitions 2013 Chromatology. Cornaro Institute, Larnaca, Cyprus 2013 8 Minutes From Here. Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London 2013 Other Objects. Lion and Lamb, London 2013 Panel Paintings. Eagle Gallery, London 2013 10 Years Too Late. Institut Fur Alles Mogliche, Berlin 2012-13 First Come First Served. Lion and Lamb, London 2012 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Royal Academy of Arts, London 2012 Artprojects. Axis (selected London artist) London Art Fair 2012 The Perfect Nude. curated:Phil Allen & Dan Coombs. Wimbledon Space, London 2011 Drawing Connections. Siena Art Institute, Italy 2010-11 Fade Away. Transition Gallery, London. Gallery North, Newcastle Upon Tyne 2010 Lyn Painter-Stainers Prize. Painters Hall, London and tour 2010 Exeter Contemporary Open. selectors: Cathy Lomax,Domo Baal. Phoenix, Exeter 2010 Fwd: Drawing on Paper. Galleri Se Konst, Falun, Sweden 2009 There and Everywhere. Transition Gallery, London 2009 100x100. Parker’s Box, Brooklyn

2009 South East. Curated by Clyde Hopkins/Stephen Lewis. APT Gallery, London 2009 Globe Gallery. Newcastle Upon Tyne 2009 Jerwood Contemporary Painters. Jerwood Space, London, and tour 2008 Small is Beautiful XXVI. Flowers East, London 2008 Jerwood Drawing Prize. Jerwood Space, London, and tour 2008 The Painting Room. Transition Gallery, London 2007 Triangle Alumni Exhibition. D.U.M.B.O Arts Festival, New York City 2007 Bounty – A Case of Preposterous Optimism. APT Gallery, London 2007 Building Picturing. The Painting Center, New York City 2006 Thread. APT Gallery, London. (co-curator) 2006 Terra Incognita. Atelier Wilhelmina Gasthuisterrein, Amsterdam 2006 Viewing Club. Uxbridge Arms, London 2005 Re-escape (Viewing Club). Bucanearo, Hamburg 2005 Sanctuary (curated by Kier Smith). APT Gallery, London 2005 BP Portrait Award. National Portrait Gallery, London 2005 London Art Fair (Eye Candy Gallery). Business Design Centre, London 2004 Fourth International Biennial. Gyumri Centre for Contemporary Art, Armenia 2004 Painters. Long and Ryle, London 2004 re:project. Access Gallery, Vancouver 2003 Reduced. Century Gallery, London 2003 Common Fields. Studio Voltaire, London 2003 Florence Trust Summer Exhibition. Florence Trust, London 2002 CCA Show. Morfi Gallery, Limassol, Cyprus 2002 Gallery Artists. Opus 39 Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus 2001 Ida Branson Memorial Bequest Exhibition. Atkinson Gallery, Millfield 2000 Twelve New Artists. Atrium Gallery, London 2000 Hung, Drawn and Quartered. Phoenix Gallery, Brighton 2000 Visiting Dartmoor. Plough Arts Centre, Torrington 1998 Tabernacle Prize. MOMA Wales 1997 Wales Drawing Biennale. Aberystwyth Arts Centre and national tour Bibliography 2012 Eleanor Moreton. The Maternal Elephant. Transition Gallery,London.Essay 2011 S. Nairne. 500 Portraits: BP Portrait Award. National Portrait Gallery.

2011 About Painting. Transition Gallery/Gallery North. Catalogue

(Bibliography continued) 2010 Lyn Painter-Stainers Prize. Catalogue 2009 Jerwood charitable Foundation. Jerwood Contemporary Painters. Catalogue 2009 Cuillin Bantock. David Webb: New Paintings. SE1 Gallery, London. Essay 2008 Jerwood Charitable Foundation. Jerwood drawing Prize 2008. Catalogue 2007 Triangle Arts Association. 2006 Triangle Workshop. Catalogue 2007 APT Gallery. Bounty - A Case of Preposterous Optimism. Catalogue 2005 National Portrait Gallery. BP Portrait Award 2005. Catalogue 2004 V. Pahlavuni-Tadevosian. 4th International Biennial Armenia. Catalogue 2003 Cherry Smyth. Florence Trust Summer Exhibition 2003. Catalogue 2000 Twelve New Artists. Catalogue 1997 Wales Drawing Biennale. Catalogue Grants/Awards 2011 The Gihon River Collective Fellowship Award. Vermont Studio Center 2011 The Cornaro Institute, Cyprus. Fellow 2009 Jerwood Contemporary Painters. Award winner 2007 The David & Rosamond Putnam Transportation Fund. Travel Grant 2007 Arts Council England Award (Group). Bounty. A.P.T Gallery, London 2002-2003 Florence Trust Studios. Residency award. London Projects 2012 Residency (full Fellowship). Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont, USA 2011 Curator. Uncaught Hares. Stephen Lawrence Gallery,Clifford Chance,London 2009 Curator. There and Everywhere. Transition Gallery, London 2008 Residency. Yaddo, Saratoga Spriings, New York, USA 2007 Fellowship. The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire, USA 2006 Triangle Artists’ Workshop. Triangle Arts Association, New York City 2001 Kings School, Canterbury (visiting Artist) Publications 2011 Uncaught Hares. Stephen Lawrence Gallery, London. Catalogue essay 2009 Garageland. issue 9: Migration. Mother Hen. Article 2009 Garageland. issue 7: Rock ‘n’ Roll. Edited by Emma Talbot. Interview David Webb, Tourist Smoking Room (Fragmentarium), graphite on paper

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