Leighton-based gallery artist David Storey has a busy September. He is a finalist in this year’s prestigious Threadneedle Prize at The Mall Gallery in London as well as exhibiting at two other gallaries in the capital.
David, 58, of Ashwell Street, became known for his distinctive album covers that he created for The Specials and their record label, 2 Tone when he worked as art director for Chrysalis Records. He has since worked as a lecturer, had his work appear at major gallaries in the UK and was a founding member of the innovative and highly successful The Bureaux, a landmark collective of 20 artists and designers worked from a warehouse in London’s Clerkenwell district.
David’s paintings and prints have featured in numerous exhibitions, including this year’s Threadneedle Prize and The Sunday Times watercolour competition as well as recent shows at Cultivate, Vyner Street Gallery, The Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, and The Gallery in Cork Street. In May of last year David appeared on the BBC2 arts programme Show Me the Monet discussing his painting ‘The Blue Room’.
Now his work, called The Conspirators, is in the running for the £30,000 Threadneedle Prize. The show is running at the Mall Gallery from Wednesday until October 13 (if you want to see a preview go towww.youtube.com/watch?v=G9uFzCPIa8Q
Before that he is showing until Saturday in the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, also at The Mall Gallery and David’s work is being exhibited as part of the Saatchi Online show ‘100 Curators, 100 Days’ www.saatchionline.com/100curators
Said Daivd: “I grew up on the west coast of Cumbria and have always been impressed by the bleak beauty and remarkable light there. My father inspired me with a love of drawing when I was three or four-years-old and I have always regarded good draftsmanship as being central to my work.
“My pictures are often inspired by a found image – such as an old family snapshot – these act as ‘triggers’ in the development of each work.
“I’m currently working on a series of prints and paintings called ‘Empty Skies’ . The pictures are inspired by fleeting images of everyday life and are really an examination of memory or, more specifically, memories of childhood.
“I start each work by translating, editing and interpreting ‘found’ images. I put plenty of space into the compositions only emphasising what is important to me. This allows me to load the pictures with a sort of uneasy tranquillity that I find very interesting.”
For more information on David and to view his most recent work go to www.david-storey.co.uk