Read more
Over the past 25 years Ian Davenport has consistently employed intensely rigorous and unconventional painting processes. This book provides an in-depth examination of his production, from his electric fan paintings, to his poured arches, circles, lines and puddle paintings. He has experimented with method and medium, exploring the qualities and applications of paints, both in his early monochrome paintings and in his later complex colour combinations. His paintings draw upon the rich heritage of European and American abstraction, and also the contemporary urban environment of London. Davenport is a keen drummer and listens to music while he paints. The musical influence is important; in his more recent paintings the repetition of multiple vertical lines of various colours creates an underlying rhythm that pulses through each work.
About the author
Martin Filler’s writings have been published in more than thirty
journals, magazines and newspapers. He was elected a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003.Michael Bracewell is the author of many books, including England is Mine. He is a regular contributor to Frieze and The Burlington Magazine. Ian Davenport studied at Goldsmiths College, graduating in 1988, the same year that he participated in Freeze, the seminal YBA exhibition curated by Damien Hirst. In 1990, Davenport held his first solo exhibition at Waddington Galleries. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1991 and has exhibited worldwide. Davenport has been commissioned to create site-specific installations for Banque Paribas, London (1996), the Groucho Club, London (2003), the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Warwick (2004) and, in 2006,
for Southwark Council and Land Securities, ‘Poured Lines: Southwark Street. a 50 metre long, 3 metre high mural installed at Southwark Street.
Summary
Over the past 25 years Ian Davenport has consistently employed intensely rigorous and unconventional painting processes. This book provides an in-depth examination of his production, from his electric fan paintings, to his poured arches, circles, lines and puddle paintings. He has experimented with method and medium, exploring the qualities and applications of paints, both in his early monochrome paintings and in his later complex colour combinations. His paintings draw upon the rich heritage of European and American abstraction, and also the contemporary urban environment of London. Davenport is a keen drummer and listens to music while he paints. The musical influence is important; in his more recent paintings the repetition of multiple vertical lines of various colours creates an underlying rhythm that pulses through each work.
Foreword
The first monograph on Ian Davenport, the renowned abstract painter and former Turner Prize nominee
