David Abse's Artist Profile
David Abse
i like artist
Artist's Statement
I have been drawing as long as I can remember. My grandfather was a shop steward for years in the Pilkingtons' glassworks in St Helens - after he retired he went to art school every day for 30 years. He died over 25 years ago, aged 99, still a communist, determined not to get a telegram from the queen. He was and is my inspiration. My work straddles the gap between realism and abstraction, heading both ways on many occasions, influenced by mood and environment. I like to paint and draw “plein air” but also to work in my studio from memory and imagination. I absorb all types of art: I have eclectic tastes that impact upon my work. A lot of my work concerns the issue of identity: in our lives we take on so many different roles - father, son, revolutionary, boss, lover, fighter - and our moods and attitudes change, morph. I love using all sorts of media: painting with oil or watercolour, or the urgency and speed and the bright plasticity of acrylic, and I also love spray paint - the way it covers space so quickly, so flatly, and is so easy to manipulate. But I like to add other things to a painting to make different marks and textures. I draw all the time, in ink, in pencil – whatever comes to hand. I like printmaking too, I like the fact that it is a more controlled process, and I like battling against that to make looser, printed images - so that my work can be accessible to more people. I enjoy experimentation- painting, drawing, printing shouldn’t be painful and should not be scary either.
Artist's Statement
I have been drawing as long as I can remember. My grandfather was a shop steward for years in the Pilkingtons' glassworks in St Helens - after he retired he went to art school every day for 30 years. He died over 25 years ago, aged 99, still a communist, determined not to get a telegram from the queen. He was and is my inspiration. My work straddles the gap between realism and abstraction, heading both ways on many occasions, influenced by mood and environment. I like to paint and draw “plein air” but also to work in my studio from memory and imagination. I absorb all types of art: I have eclectic tastes that impact upon my work. A lot of my work concerns the issue of identity: in our lives we take on so many different roles - father, son, revolutionary, boss, lover, fighter - and our moods and attitudes change, morph. I love using all sorts of media: painting with oil or watercolour, or the urgency and speed and the bright plasticity of acrylic, and I also love spray paint - the way it covers space so quickly, so flatly, and is so easy to manipulate. But I like to add other things to a painting to make different marks and textures. I draw all the time, in ink, in pencil – whatever comes to hand. I like printmaking too, I like the fact that it is a more controlled process, and I like battling against that to make looser, printed images - so that my work can be accessible to more people. I enjoy experimentation- painting, drawing, printing shouldn’t be painful and should not be scary either.
David Abse was born in December 1958. David studied art and design at the University of Wolverhampton in the early 1980s, and has subsequently exhibited his work throughout the UK (including the Francis Kyle Gallery in London, and the Bradford Biennale) and elsewhere in the world, including France, Japan and Poland. In 2009 David’’s work was featured on BBC TV’s ‘The One Show’. For many years David worked for various charities and campaigning organisations in the UK, and continues to actively support a number of community and campaigning groups. David now works full time as a painter and printmaker in the south of France. Exhibitions: 1983: Tarmac Prize Prints, Printmaking Open Wolverhampton, UK 1984: Bradford Print Biennale, UK 1985: Kanagawa Print Triennial, Japan 1985: International Print Open, Krakow, Poland 1985: Leigh Gallery, London, UK 2010: Matelles-Art Gallery, France 2011 March: Icosahedron Gallery, New York, USA 2011 April: Le Soleil Bleu Gallery, Lodève, France 2011: May: ‘Animals’ Art Nomade, Gignac, France 2011: May: Pic Saint Loup Festa Trail, St Mathieu, France 2011 June: ‘Boom’: The Brick Lane Gallery, London, UK 2011: June/July: ‘Animaux’, Matelles-Art Gallery, France 2011: October: Parallax Art Fair, London Collections: Francis Kyle Gallery, London (1984-1990) Publications: July 2011: L’Artiste Magazine (see http://www.l-artistemagazine.com/) In June 2011 I was feature on London Art as their “artist of the month” NB: All my work is viewable on my own website at www.davidabse.com In addition I have contributed illustrations to numerous publications and publishers over the years including The Jewish Chronicle, Poetry Wales Press, The Thin Blue Line, the Robson Press, Hutchinson, the Felix Gluck Press and others.