The Xippas Gallery is very pleased to present an exhibition by the british artist Ian Davenport. For this fifth solo show at the Xippas Galleries, the artist presents his most recent paintings as well as works on paper.
With influences ranging from European and American abstraction and the music of John Cage to his own urban environment, Davenport’s manipulation of paint has earned widespread acclaim since his graduation in 1988. From his early investigations into chance and painting surfaces, to the complex rhythms of his vertically lined colour pieces, Davenport’s unconventional methods are unified by intuitive understanding and mastery of the medium.
Ian Davenport studied Fine Art at London’s Goldsmiths College of Art. In the summer of 1988, Davenport was one of sixteen artists to exhibit in the famed group show Freeze. This seminal exhibition curated by Damien Hirst introduced the art world to a new generation of artists, a group that would soon become known as the YBAs (Young British Artists). In 1991 he became the youngest Turner Prize nominee. Davenport has since won international recognition with over forty solo shows across Europe and the USA. His major commissions include Poured Lines: Southwark Street (2006) in London, which is one of the largest permanent public artworks in the UK.
The exhibition will showcase the vertically striped works that are often seen as his signature pieces. These paintings use palettes derived from urban surroundings or popular sources such as The Simpsons cartoons. More recently Davenport has taken inspiration from the colour compositions of historical works, most notably in Colorfall: Ambassador (2013) which is a radical interpretation of the colours in Holbein’s The Ambassadors.
Ian Davenport was born in Sidcup, South East London, in 1966. He completed an Art Foundation Course at the Northwich College of Art and Design in 1984-85 before taking a BA in Fine Art at London’s Goldsmiths College. Davenport’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at the Tate and National Gallery London, Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. His work is held in numerous public collections including the Arts Council, Government Art Collection, Tate Gallery, London, Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul and the Dallas Museum of Art, Texas.
