David Brian Smith paints on herringbone linen. The rough texture of the canvas is reminiscent of traditional fabrics that inhabitants of the British countryside (where the artist hails from) used to wear.

His compositions are created through a slow and time-consuming process with successive touches of oil paint. Sometimes he inserts silver or gold leaf here and there. His paintings envelop us in a meditative, even spiritual atmosphere.

Smith’s work is interspersed with recurrent patterns and archetypical figures, such
as that of a solitary shepherd and a man sitting on a giant anthill, colonial hat in hand. The latter represents the artist’s grandfather, a clergyman and amateur photographer who lived in India in the colonial era. To quote art critic Amy Sherlock: “The shepherd seems to personify memory, symbolising a historical or imagined past.”

His references include Henri Rousseau, the gold leaf paintings of Gustav Klimt, Samuel Palmer and the British surrealist painters Paul Nash and Graham Sutherland.

David Brian Smith was born in Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom in 1981. He lives and works in London and studied at the University of Wolverhampton and the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. His work was featured in both solo and collective shows in galleries and institutions such as Albert Baronian gallery, Brussels; Carl Freedman gallery,
London; Wagdas Gallery, London; Galerie VidalCuglietta, Brussels; the Neue Froth Kunsthalle, Brighton; Cul de Sac, London; Weltraum, Munich; the Saatchi Gallery, London; Benderspace, London; Studio Voltaire, London; Susak, Croatia; Long and Ryle Gallery, London; House Gallery, London and the Eagleworks Gallery, Wolverhampton. David Brian Smith received the Creekside Open Award in 2013 and the Royal Academy Landscape Painting Award in 2005.

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Friday 10 am – 1 pm and 2 pm – 6.30 pm
Saturday 12 pm – 5 pm