David Cottingham
My paintings are abstracted improvisations on the two themes that most inspire me, the human body in motion and the spirit of place. I try to evoke and capture the essence of these but the paintings are also adventures into unknown territories and I hope to create something unpredictable, beyond the subject. I like the work to evolve its own life and meaning, the main aim being to uncover ever deeper inherent structures, forms and emotions in the idea and by using the language of paint on canvas in a very spontaneous way, reveal unconscious worlds and possibilities.
My work has its roots in sculpture, which I originally studied. I apply the paint in a layered, almost carved way which then creates its own unique forms. The other primary technique I use is drawing, particularly in the Dance pieces, where fluid lines are used to delineate multiple movements. After studying Sculpture at St Martins School of Art, where I had been making welded metal dance-like structures, I returned to working with the figure more directly, particularly Drawing.
In time, my love of both music and dance pointed my art in a new direction, towards creating paintings with professional dancers in an improvisational style. After experimenting with different techniques I eventually adopted a linear rhythmic and collaborative approach. That approach combined with my other strand of more abstract painting, along with the colour ideas which it generated, gradually became fused into my current figurative style. The recent large scale, bolder, Dance work was then made possible by a move to my current London studio.
Gathering Light
I now continue to work on these strands of painting and sculpture simultaneously as I find they inform each other and grow together. Light moves across a landscape like the dancer moves through space, I am a painter of transient things.
Australian Sunrise
Grand Jete
Venue 6
26 King Edwards Gardens, W3 9RG
Exhibiting times
Friday 7th Sept — 4pm to 8pm
Saturday 8th Sept — 11am to 6pm
Sunday 9th Sept — 11am to 6pm
Friday 14th Sept — 4pm to 8pm
Saturday 15th Sept — 11am to 6pm
Sunday 16th Sept — 11am to 6pm
Cash, cheque and cards accepted
Wheelchair accessible: Good