David Spiller - Works from the 90s

WORKS FROM THE 90s

DAVID SPILLER

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“You are making paintings for people to see and you are taking them on a journey… This world we live in: the funny characters are the people living in it, the paint, all of it … I'm saying: I'm glad I was here ."

DAVID SPILLER WORKS FROM THE 90 s with commentary by Xavier Spiller-Cameron

21 F E B R U A R Y – 15 M A R C H 2019

PORTLAND GALLE RY 3 BENNET STREET

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LONDON SW1A 1RP

T E L E P H O N E 020 7493 1888

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EMAIL art@portlandgallery.com

www.portlandgallery.com

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DAVID SPILLER WORKS FROM THE 90’s With this exhibition Portland Gallery wants to take you on a journey; three decades of David Spiller paintings, shown in three exhibitions. It seems appropriate to begin at the beginning and to trace the origins of his practice from the start to the end. When talking about exhibiting his paintings David loved to say, “It’s like being a comedian with a killer joke to tell… and no audience to tell it to”.

He loved to show his paintings and talk about his work. He always referred to the works he’d kept from this period as his building blocks – key pieces – explaining to me that he would revisit these works whenever he was questioning what he was doing and to trust that they would hold the answers. He used them for inspiration and development, working references and reminders. They held an emotional significance and the longer they stayed with him in the studio the more they became part of his entourage. The paintings in the show from the 90s, offer a glimpse of David's most personal paintings, among his favourite companions and closest to his heart.

I find these early paintings to be filled with raw emotion, with hidden love messages scattered throughout, along with notes to the family, questions of mortality and immortality, loss and loneliness, and a wish for sunny days. These paintings show the emergence of his heartfelt inscriptions, graffitied and scribbled directly onto the canvas. From the overall image, to the text and lyrics, to the ‘goggle-eyed’ characters he drew.

“Nothing is there for the sheer hell of it… Everything has a meaning to me, everything is there for a reason…

Xavier Spiller-Cameron

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EARLY SEWN WORKS “In a painting you put yourself into it… I think

“Part of me wants them to be like something

you call it love.”

you found. Not art.”

David’s canvases from the early part of the

He enjoyed the challenge of working in the

90s

simplest form not worrying about colour,

document

the

beginnings

of

his

construction paintings, cutting and splicing

working with a limited monochrome palette

different pieces of fabric together, allowing

he was referring back to his time as a student

him to combine a variety of imagery. This

with Frank Auerbach, not having enough

idea initially came from his paperwork

money for a set of coloured paints only able

assemblages, a system he devised by which

to afford black and white, used bare canvas

he could cut out a figure and replace it with

to ration his paint. Personal reference and

another one. This bringing together of

reverence proliferate David’s art, once

images is from where the idea came to sew

explaining

that

the

abstract

triangles

together the separate elements of his

represent mathematical purity referencing

paintings. Using precision cut, sharp lines,

Pythagoras and Leonardo Da Vinci and the

he could include colour blocks, figures,

notion of ‘divine proportions’. He also liked

scribbles and text and stitch them together

to pay a more subtle homage to his friends

on a sewing machine. He often used fabric

and

or old remnants of canvas he’d preserved

triangles and Alan Green’s hard edge

work

colleagues,

Brian

Fielding’s

and treasured, revealed from the ‘bits box’

abstract paintings, along with giants like,

like an archaeologist - old screen-printed

Picasso, Rembrandt and Van Gogh.

movie posters from the 1960s, my mother’s vintage dress collection, some fabric that

"Painting becomes a way of trying to make

had ghost traces of imagery on, roses and

sense of things for myself by remembering

cowboys, gifted from a friend. These time-

souls or fragments of things in your life…

capsule

sewn

Trying to combine a number of things, a found

and

image that my kid would have, with just bits of

together,

panels taken

were

repeatedly

apart,

reversed

reconstructed into new paintings, over-

paint, and the songs. Trying to make certain

painted and reworked. The backs are a

formal things work… Saying, ‘it's a beautiful

fantastic insight to a painting’s history. The

world, I'm glad I came’. To say that to a girl

remnants of what had been destroyed, not

would be very nice. I would like to say it to my

good enough, along the way. Fragments of

partner, Moira. You're lucky if you meet

Popeye’s arm, Mickey’s ear, and ‘I love you’…

someone, to me, it meant the world…“

These final paintings were the survivors.

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The painting Same As It Ever Was included a self-portrait, along with images of my half brothers Sam and Jack. They are falling off the edge of the world into the abyss, Sam imploring David to ‘find the magic... hold on...’ and power magically emanating from David’s fingertips.

This painting contains the first appearance of ‘Planet Man’ who became an extremely significant symbol and presence throughout his work - David’s signature.

Same As It Ever Was 1990 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 61 x 85 ins Catalogue no.1

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With Meet the Family David introduces ‘his’ family; each character was a “crazy” member and had their part to play. He would not alway share the information of who was who, leaving a mystery as to some of the protagonists. He liked to think that his people were "real". With their spiky hair, punk black clothes, and spotted dresses, displaying his anarchic affection for the characters who populated his paintings, "it's all about making something come alive".

Meet the Family 1991 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 61 x 73 ins Catalogue no.2

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David adored his mother Rose, depicted in Oh Ma and Ma and the Roses; ‘I will not ever stop loving you’. He was very influenced by her love for music: “My mother was always singing… Music has always been a part of my life.”

The songs she sang resonated with him, he told me that she would sing and cry, perhaps remembering

a

lost

love.

Music

was

engrained in David’s DNA, he was always singing or humming a tune. A vast selection of various artists all had their place: Bob Dylan,

Bruce

Springsteen,

Bauhaus, Bowie.

Oh Ma 1991 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 49 x 55 ins Catalogue no.3

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The

Beatles,

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I Miss Your Arms Around Me 1991 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 51 x 40 ins Catalogue no.4

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Skateboarder skateboarding.

casts

David’s

son

Sam,

An example of how he

painted the people he loved, thin black paint rapidly sketched onto a piece of distressed old canvas from the 1960s, a remnant from a movie poster with the prophetic caption, ‘I can’t give you anything but love and murder baby’. This was his family, his world.

Skateboarder 1991 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 20 x 16 ins Catalogue no.5

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Wooden Figures 1992 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 61 x 73 ins Catalogue no.6

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David

combined

Moira’s

vintage

dress

collection, scraps of fabric with butterflies, dots and roses, assembling deeply personal works. Starlight and All Those Songs contain swatches of fabric that capture the essence of the owner, preserving memories; summer days spent together ‘remembering those days so long ago; stolen moments, ‘just one kiss’; a wonder-lust for youth, ‘when we were young’.

Poignant treasured

mementoes, moments,

encapsulating

holding

onto

a

connection with love. Scribbled notations of love and vulnerability narrate David’s story, ‘love letters straight from my heart’.

All Those Songs 1993 Mixed media 32 x 32 ins Catalogue no.7

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Starlight 1993 Mixed media 32 x 32 ins Catalogue no.8

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Ma and the Roses 1993 Mixed media 32 x 32 ins Catalogue no.9

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The painting RIP is clearly commenting on love, life and death.

The girl in a black dress is Moira... Love.

Faded, scrubbed out roses... Life.

The skeletal creature, Rest In Peace... Death.

This painting is one of the first in which David wrote on the white border, proclaiming an important statement, a deliberately chosen lyrical strapline, You Dont Have To Say You Love Me, by Dusty Springfield.

RIP 1993 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 25 x 29 ins Catalogue no.10

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CARTOONS AND COMICS Increasingly during the 90s, David began to

“I make the wall and then scribble on it…. I

paint iconic images from popular comic strips

think it is desperation a lot of the time in my

and cartoons. The cartoons being alter egos

work - What the hell do you do? You work like a

for himself and his family. He liked portrait

child with a tower of bricks, building this thing,

paintings but didn’t want to paint portraits of

and there comes a point when you want to

people you wouldn’t know, but instantly

push it over.”

recognisable. To him these characters were as important and as worthy of a place in history

David was a whirlwind of energy and ideas all

as, kings and queens by Gainsborough and a

transferred onto each canvas inviting you into

self-portrait by Rembrandt. David felt that

his world. The canvases from this period are

these crazy entertainers deserved their place in

littered with personal messages of, love and

the history of art. Deliberately using light and

loss, treasured moments. Close up it's easy to

dark tones to highlight the figure and darken

forget the larger dynamic in discovering and

the background as Rembrandt did.

deciphering a cast of little graffiti characters along with proliferating texts, lyrics penciled

David engaged in a constant dialogue

or scratched onto the surface.

between himself and the intricately layered canvas. The portcullis grids, he told me, were

Music, cartoons, art history, imaginary beasts,

windows to another world. Later these grates

personal history laid bare. The figure grasping

were replaced by, blocks he used to refer to as

a four-leaf clover was his mother who could

keyholes. Minnie, Mickey and Felix hastily

legendarily always magically find one. His

drawn and re-drawn, who will survive? David

image of an ideal family, Love the children, a

marveled at the way characters like Wile E

boy playing football, ‘where are you tonight

Coyote could get squished a million times and

sweet love…’ David in his open-top sports car,

still live to fight another day – cartoons were

‘all we wanted was a sunny day’. Combining

immortal.

abstract art from an artist he saw in Germany, designs from tribal Asfro flags, more dots,

David would work flat on the floor; paintings

teamed up with wild expressionistic paint. His

were scrubbed on the surface with paint which

paintings have a sense of life, of something

he’d carried from across the studio with the

physical,

canvases,

impregnating

traces

from

grown.

Improvisation,

change,

its

chance, you can piece the elements together,

fossilized history. He would purposely walk on

follow the history of its making that contain a

and across the work with footprints and

mass of information about him, like a diary or

handprints as evidence. Quoting Picasso,

journal, leaving the evidence to be uncovered

‘Every act of creation is first an act of

in the future by a forensic archaeologist. Being

destruction’. Slowly and deliberately he would

an artist, for David was a lonely occupation

build up an overall image with an evolved

seeing himself like a caveman trying to leave

distressed paint surface, the final act was to

his mark, “Maybe all we are doing is leaving our

scribble on it and drip paint on it.

fingerprints… Leaving our mark.”

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Girl Sawing Her Head Off 1992 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 41 x 37 ins Catalogue no.11

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Boo Boo 1993 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 32 x 32 ins Catalogue no.12

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Grumpy 1994 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 32 x 32 ins Catalogue no.13

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“The thing that I drew, that was magic for me, was the cinema - was Donald Duck, was Felix, was Mickey Mouse... I could draw him, he was mine: My Mickey Mouse.

That was the power of doing it. With this cruddy little piece of chalk I could make him come alive... It was like learning to write: I’m here! These were ‘people‘ I knew. I was at home with them and could get on with painting them... What I like about cartoons is that kids get it straight away. They don’y say it’s ‘Pop Art’, they say it’s Mickey Mouse.

What I am saying is judge it from your feelings, not from what you think about art and all that... Just be young about it.”

Crazy Mickey 1994 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 49 x 49 ins Catalogue no.14

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Wile E. Coyote 1994 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 49 x 49 ins Catalogue no.15

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Quick Draw 1994 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 32 x 32 ins Catalogue no.16

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Girl with Mickey and Mickey and the Magic Girl, incorporated mytical birds on sticks, figures balancing on triangles and coloured balls.

These paintings show early inclusions of the floating dots, later used as formal way to add colour and depth, disorientating micro-worlds.

Mickey and the Magic Girl 1994 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 16 x 16 ins Catalogue no.17

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Girl with Mickey 1994 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 16 x 16 ins Catalogue no.18

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Science fiction and space exploration was a fascination - the possibilities of other worlds, the future, the stars and moons.

All Those Loney People portrays sexy Shirley Partridge from the future, 2200AD, defaced with the little adition of a Salvador Dali moustache “just for fun”. Mickey, Roadrunner, Yosemite Sam and Mario all come together in a fictional world on a purple planet, the bold text stating, ‘AND THERE IS NO PLACE I AM GOING TO’.

All Those Lonely People 1994 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 73 x 73 ins Catalogue no.19

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“We should all fly away on a rocket... We should all fly up to the moon. I remember lying on a haystack in Swanley... Searching the skies for a glimpse of a flying saucer...”.

On holidays in France we would sit for hours waiting to see a shooting star, discussing the possibilities of alien life. In Sing of Love, the little space-boy, Elroy from the Jetson cartoon, was me.’

Sing of Love 1995 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 61 x 61 ins Catalogue no.20

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The rickety line on the works Like the Moon and the Stars and Wise Men Say is formed by enlarging a printed line from a comic, referencing back to screen-prints from the 60s. At this time he also began collaborating with Moira, using early scans and Photoshop technology, David was intrigued and liked the result of processing an image and how the line distorted. “I loved these things a child. The cinema i thought was a magic thing. My brother had a little machine that he wound by hand and showed me movies on at home... There would be Felix the cat, MIckey Mouse. Now and then he’d get a bit of Laurel and Hardy or Charlie Chaplin, my god, he was a magician!�

Like the Moon and the Stars 1995 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 61 x 61 ins Catalogue no.21

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David spent much of the late 90s in Belgium, where he did a series of paintings of cartoon characters on the telephone, the telephone being his connection back home. “I’m here now it’s my turn to wait for you”, he would take you on a journey of feelings emotions that we all connect with. Raw emotions, sharing his tears and regrets, Didn’t mean to hurt you.

David’s canvasses are loaded with associations and meaning across time and distance, borrowing perennial lyrics which invite the viewer to bring his or her own history to the communication.

Words I Long to Hear 1996 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 73 x 73 ins Catalogue no.22

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The canvases from this period are littered with personal messages of love and loss. Close up it’s easy to forget the larger dynamic in discovering and deciphering a cast of little graffiti characters along with proliferating texts, lyrics penciled or scratched onto the surface such as in Wise Men Say with the inclusion of a drawing of an angel and ‘let the angels sing’.

Wise Men Say 1996 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 73 x 73 ins Catalogue no.23

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This was one of David’s most treasured paintings, always maintaining it was “his”, and actively not signing it for many years so it remained un-sold.

The work combined memories of playing cowboys and Indians in the fields where he grew up; John Wayne movies, ‘Those Were The Summer Days’, and ‘One Last Dance’.

‘Heaven is the Home of your Heart’ is a lyric from The Psychedelic Furs, stirring memories of the time he spent in New York.

Keep Them From the Howling Wind 1997 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 64 x 86 ins Catalogue no.24

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These early texts of love link strongly to all his later works.

“There are certain themes where we all touch base together. I’m voicing what happened to me, what happened to you.”

Because the Sky is Blue 1997 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 65 x 84 ins Catalogue no.25

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BON POINT PAINTINGS The images from several paintings in 1997-

‘It’s Written In The Stars’ comes from a micro

1999 were taken from Bon Point merit

ink-stamp

tokens that were handed out at my primary

sandcastle. The boy playing in the sand

of

a

little

boy

building

a

school as rewards for good work. David

reminded him of myself on seaside holidays

photographed and projected these tiny little

we took, a fantasy wish fulfillment for the

ink stamp trophies, hugely magnifying them,

innocence of childhood. The canvas is

and then transposing the image by brush

loaded with messages of love: ‘sweet child

onto the canvas, faithfully following the

play’ and ‘child you were born to run’.

crude simplified line and embracing their imperfections.

Sometimes he even spelled out who he was thinking about. In ‘Everyone’s Gone to the Moon’ David has written family names along the edge: Sam + Jack + Xavier.

Elsewhere we find proclamations: ‘What a

All We Ever Wanted

Wonderful World’ and the scribbled ‘when we were cowboys on the western range’ on

1997 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 73 x 73 ins

lyrics, ‘didn’t mean to make you so sad’ and

Catalogue no.26

‘All We Ever Wanted was Everything’.

‘Because the Sky is Blue’. Or poetic Bauhaus

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What a Wonderful World 1998 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 34 x 34 ins Catalogue no.27

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It’s Written in the Stars

Everyone’s Gone to the Moon

1998 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 34 x 34 ins

1998 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 34 x 34 ins

Catalogue no.28

Catalogue no.29

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Because the Sky is Blue

It’s a Kind of Magic

1998 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 34 x 34 ins

1999 Acrylic and pencil on canvas 34 x 34 ins

Catalogue no.30

Catalogue no.31

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DRAWINGS

I Love You 1987 Mixed media on paper 19 x 14 ins Catalogue no.32

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Every Day I Love You 1988 Mixed media on paper 24 x 22 ins Catalogue no.33

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Family and Animals 1991 Mixed media on paper 24 x 17 ins Catalogue no.34

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Family and Popeye 1991 Mixed media on paper 26 x 22 ins Catalogue no.35

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Every Day 1991 Mixed media on paper 26 x 22 ins Catalogue no.36

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Original Woman 1993 Mixed media on paper 27 x 18 in Catalogue no.37

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Olive and Blue Mickey 1992 Mixed media on paper 26 x 22 ins Catalogue no.38

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Oh No Beautiful Girl 1993 Mixed media on paper 24 x 17 ins Catalogue no.39

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CATALOGUE Early Sewn 1 Same As It Ever Was 2 Oh Ma 3 Meet the Family 4 I Miss Your Arms Around Me 5 Skateboarder 6 Wooden Figures 7 All Those Songs 8 Starlight 9 Ma and the Roses 10 RIP

61 49 73 51 20 61 32 32 32 25

x x x x x x x x x x

85 55 61 40 16 73 32 32 32 29

1990 1991 1991 1991 1991 1992 1993 1993 1993 1993

Cartoon 11 Girl Sawing Her Head Off 12 Boo Boo 13 Grumpy 14 Crazy Mickey 15 Wile E Coyote 16 Quick Draw 17 Mickey and the Magic Girl 18 Girl with Mickey 19 All those Lonely People 20 Sing of Love 21 Like the Moon and the Stars 22 Words I Long to Hear 23 Wise Men Say 24 Keep Them From The Howling Wind 25 Because the Sky is Blue

41 32 32 49 49 32 16 16 73 61 61 73 73 64 65

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

37 32 32 49 49 32 16 16 73 61 61 73 73 86 84

1992 1993 1994 1994 1994 1994 1994 1994 1994 1995 1995 1996 1996 1997 1998

Bon Point 26 All We Ever Wanted 27 What a Wonderful World 28 It's Written in the Stars 29 Everyone's Gone to the Moon 30 Because the Sky is Blue 31 It's a Kind of Magic

73 34 34 34 34 34

x x x x x x

73 34 34 34 34 34

1997 1998 1998 1998 1998 1999

Drawings 32 I Love You 33 Every Day I Love You 34 Family and Animals 35 Family and Popeye 36 Every Day 37 Original Woman 38 Olive and Blue Mickey 39 Oh No Beautiful Girl

19 24 24 26 26 27 26 24

x x x x x x x x

14 22 17 22 22 18 22 17

1987 1988 1991 1991 1991 1993 1992 1993

E&OE All catalogue nos 1–31 are Acrylic and pencil on canvas except for 7, 8 and 9 (Mixed media).

Catalogues nos 32–39 are all Mixed media on paper.

Images of all the works to be featured may be viewed on our website www.portlandgallery.com Works are for sale prior to the opening of the exhibition; please refer to the enclosed price list.

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BIOGRAPHY

1942 1957 1958-62 1962-65 1980s 1987

1988

1989 1990

1991 1992

1993

1994

1995 1996 1997 1998

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Born in Dartford Kent Sidcup School of Art Beckenham School of Art Kent Slade School of Art London Lived and worked in Berlin and New York Zeitkunst Gallery Innsbruk & Cologne (solo show) (Catalogue) Eugene Lendel Gallery Gras Austria (solo show) Woord & Reeld Museum Hedendaagse Kunst Utrecht Holland Woord & Reeld Stadtmuseum Ratingen Germany Materialisation Mannheim Kunstverein Germany Twinings Gallery New York (solo show) Kana Contemporary Arts Gallery Berlin (solo show) Zeitkunst Gallery Innsbruck & Cologne (solo show) (Catalogue) Twinings Gallery New York (solo show) Alexander Roussos Gallery London (solo show) Twinings Gallery New York (solo show) (Catalogue) Ariadne Gallery Vienna (solo show) Ariadne Gallery Vienna (solo show) Willy Schoots Gallery Eindhoven Holland (solo show) Reflex Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland Pop & Artvertising Museum Van Bomme, Venlo, Holland Gallery Naviglio, Milan & Venice, Italy, solo show) Gallery Naviglio Milan & Venice Italy Gallery Rokoko Stuttgart Germany (solo show) Gallery Ferdinand Maier Cologne Germany (solo show) Gallery Moderne Silkeborg Denmark (solo show) Gallery Cotthem Knokke Belgium (solo show) Kasten Steinmetz Mannheim (solo show) Galley Moderne Silkeborg Denmark Gallery Cotthem Knokke Belgium (solo show) Museum Van Bommel - Van Dam Venlo Holland Gallery Cotthem Knokke Belgium (solo show) Gallery Cotthem Barcelona Spain (solo show) (Catalogue) Gallery Ribbentrop Munich Germany Take 3 Beaux Arts London Rokoko Gallery Stuttgart Germany (works on paper) Gallery Cotthem Knokke Belgium (solo show)

1998 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Beaux Arts London (solo show) (Catalogue essay by Edward Lucie-Smith) Cartoons and Comics Virgin Atlantic Artists of fame & Promise Beaux Arts London Gallery Moderne Silkeborg Denmark Beaux Arts London (solo show) (Catalogue essay by Linda Saunders) Gallery Moderne Denmark (solo show) (catalogue essay

by Edward Lucie-Smith) Simmer Beaux Arts London Guy Pieters Gallery Knokke & Latem Belgium Guy Pieters Gallery St Paul de Vence France Gallery Camino Real Boca Raton Florida USA (solo show) Gallery Klaus Peter Goebel Stuttgart Germany Beaux Arts London (solo show) (Catalogue essay by Ben Tufnell) Gallery Moderne Silkeborg Denmark Summer Show Beaux Arts London Gallery Wild Frankfurt Germany (solo show) Beaux Arts London (solo show) (Catalogue essay by Marco Livingstone) Gallery Camino Real Boca Raton Florida USA (solo show) Museum Espace Belleville Paris (L’humour dans l’art Contemporian) Gallery Moderne Silkeborg Denmark Summer Show Beaux Arts London Beaux Arts London (solo show) (Catalogue essay by Martin Gayford) Royal West of England Academy (David Inshaw - Friends and Influences) Gallery Moderne Silkeborg Denmark Wild Gallery Frankfurt Germany (solo show) Summer Show Beaux Arts London Ernst Hilger Vienna Austria Guy Pieters Gallery Knokke Belgium (solo show) (Catalogue) Beaux Arts London (solo show) (Catalogue essay by Edward Lucie-Smith) Gallery Moderne Silkeborg Denmark Raab Gallery Berlin Germany (solo show)

2004 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Guy Pieters Gallery St Paul de Vence France (solo show) (Catalogue essay by Edward Lucie-Smith) Wild Gallery Frankfurt Germany (solo show) Love for Sale Bankside Gallery London (Curated by Edward Lucie-Smith) Gallery Moderne Silkeborg Denmark Beaux Arts London (solo show) (catalogue essay by Sue Hubbard) Midwest Kunst Herning Museum Denmark Gallery Moderne Silkeborg Denmark (solo show) Apart Media Amsterdam (solo show) Summer show Beaux Arts London Artcurial Paris (mixed show) (Mickey dans tous ses etats) Mannheim Kunstverein Germany (solo show) (Catalogue essay Martin Stather) Gallery Wild Frankfurt (solo show) Guy Pieters Gallery Knokke Belgium (solo show) (Book essay by Edward Lucie-Smith) Gallery Moderne Silkeborg Denmark (solo show) (Catalogue essay Simon Grant) Tournesols Gallery Lyon France (solo show) Gallery Willy Schoots Eindhoven Holland (exhibition with Rik Van Irsel) Gallery Wild Frankfurt Germany Interatrium Gallery Porto Portugal (solo show) Beaux Arts London (solo show) (Catalogue essay Martin Gayford) Guy Pieters Gallery St. Paul de Vence France (solo show) (Book essay Martin Gayford) Guy Pieters Gallery Knokke (exhibition with Robert Combas) Beaux Arts London (solo show) (Catalogue essay Edward Lucie Smith) Espace Villegle St Gratien Paris (solo show) (Catalogue essay Edward Lucie-Smith) Beaux Arts London (solo show) (Catalogue essay Charles Darwent) Tournesols Gallery Vichy France (solo show) Gallery Moderne Silkeborg Denmark (solo show) (Catalogue essay Charles Darwent)

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015 2016 2017 2018

2019

Guy Pieters Gallery Knokke Belgium (solo show) Guy Pieters Gallery Knokke Belgium (mixed show Jim Dine, Indiana, Warhol, Mel Ramos) Beaux Arts Gallery London (solo show) (Catalogue essay Sam Cornish) Fisherplatz Gallery Ulm Germany (solo show) Guy Pieters Gallery Knokke Belgium (mixed show Christo, Delvoye, Jan Fabre, Quinze) Portland Gallery London (solo show) (Catalogue essay Karen Wright) At the Gallery Antwerp Belgium (solo show) Guy Pieters Gallery Knokke Belgium (solo show) (Catalogue essay Emma Lilley) Portland Gallery London (solo show) Long-Sharp Gallery Indianapolis (2 man show) Bege/Fischerplatz Gallery Ulm (solo show) Guy Pieters Gallery Knokke Belgium (mixed show) Portland Gallery London (solo show) Guy Pieters Gallery Belgium (solo show) Gallery Moderne Silkeborg Denmark (mixed show) Gallerie Kasten Mannheim Germany (collages show) Long Sharp Gallery New York (solo show) Guy Pieters Gallery Knokke Belgium (mixed show) Stadtische Galerie Wangen im Allgau Germany (mixed museum show) Foundation Carmignac Porquerolles France (mixed museum show) Portland Gallery London (solo show)

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DAVID SPILLER EPILOGUE

surprised, to re-connect with themselves’. We stood bare-footed in front of the painting of Tintin’s dog, Snowy, carefully reading the messages, I noticed a small inscription, not knowing it was there, it read, ‘Such a sweet boy Xavier’. I feel proud and humbled to know that my father included these personal notes; reminding me he loved me, inscribed for posterity for the world to see. As a result of this chance encounter in the South of France it has been agreed to release some of David’s early works. Having fulfilled their aide-memoire function it feels right to release these paintings from studio and give them a new life. I have a strong passion to share his legacy and I am sure he would Xavier and David Spiller.

want to give his “killers” an audience.

A

s a family late last summer, we decided

“I really want to make paintings that put some

to make a pilgrimage to the Carmignac

magic on the wall… My wish is that these

Foundation on the island of Porquerolles,

paintings bring you memories and that they

knowing there was a David Spiller painting,

might stir something inside you… That they

Be happy, in their collection. As required by

reflect part of one persons passing time.

the

shoes,

I hope they speak for themselves and that they

Carmignac’s vision being, ‘to awaken a child’s

speak to you… That the journey was all

sense of wonder, to nourish our capacity to be

worthwhile…”

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founder

we

removed

our

PORTLAND GALLERY