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David Wightman creates both abstract and landscape paintings using paint and textured wallpaper in a unique method similar to marquetry. His work requires great precision and is almost mathematical; he often repaints sections of his works many times in the pursuit of perfection before he is satisfied. Drawing on the tools of postmodern thought including hybridity, pastiche and even parody, he plays with established genres that are often considered "dead". Wightman's abstract paintings appropriate motifs from geometric abstraction - most prominently rounded and square targets. 'For me, geometric abstraction is associated with aspiration, idealism and modernity. Coupling these motifs with collaged wallpaper (used to signify my own background) I seek to personalise geometric abstraction, imbuing it with nostalgia.' Similarly, his latest landscape paintings subtly undermine the genre of the "ideal landscape" by introducing textured wallpaper. 'I aim to capture both the beauty and futility of these images, and the desires they represent.' Wightman is interested in the contradictory connotations of mountain landscapes, their beauty and terror; their isolation and wholesomeness. It is this sense of the age-old mountain, isolated and cold, that makes a subtle yet ingenious reference to the predicament of the landscape genre. Prescribed as dead on more than one occasion by art criticism, the "perfect landscape" is now considered crass and kitsch and therefore totally in line with the connotations of the textured wallpaper with which Wightman creates his own landscapes. While disguised by uplifting colours there is a quiet sadness in his work, and with it an integrity that appears to be missing from much of contemporary art. David Wightman is a graduate of Middlesex University and the Royal College of Art. Solo exhibitions include David Wightman: Behemoth and Other New Paintings, CORNERHOUSE, Manchester (2009), Aspirations, William Angel Gallery, London (2008). Group shows include The Medical Foundation Art Auction, SUMARRIA LUNN, John McAslan + Partners/Royal Institution of Great Britain, London (2009), In A Word, SUMARRIA LUNN, Eyre Court/NW8, London (2009), Travelling Light, Wilson Williams Gallery/Pharos Gallery, Venice Biennale (2009), CUBE Open, CUBE (Centre for the Urban Built Environment), Manchester (2008), Beneath, Surface Gallery, Nottingham (2006), RCA Secret, Royal College of Art, London (2004) and Summer Show, Florence Trust, St. Saviour's, London (2004). The artist was a finalist at the Lexmark European Art Prize (2003) and is a recipient of the Hunting Art Prize (2003). |