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David Cottingham | | |
Due of the large interest the exhibition was extended, from Jan. 10th. to Jan. 24th. 2007
16 Nov 2006, 7-10pm
David Cottingham, Preview, 'Body and Soul' show exhibition of paintings & drawings accompanied by a live dance performance
David Cottingham : The Dance Paintings
These figurative based works are studies of dance, movement or gesture. Inspired by contemporary and classical dance, music, photography and sculpture. I work with dancers in life size compositions which invite the viewer to enter into a virtual three dimensional space. Originally Inspired by Matisse and Degas, I became aware of my own need to animate the canvas and retain a sculptural quality. The paintings are worked up in layers of observed movement, trying to express the essence of the movement and the dancer. Very little is obscured, so that the progress of the painter and the dancer can be observed. They are painted from life, using the inspiration and styles of individual contemporary and classical dancers .These abstracted and complex figure paintings aim to celebrate the body and express movement of the human figure in its purist form.
I have always loved observing the dancer, the single figure in motion. After many years of drawing the figure I began to experiment by trying to capture something of the sensation of the dancer's movement in space.
My initial attempts were in sculpture, using welded metal to express the dancers ability to escape gravity. The drawing of movement gradually became a vehicle for me to express two of the themes that I feel are important in figurative art: spontaneity and improvisation.
Music itself is also a very big influence, aligned closely with the music of dance, both classical and contemporary. "Dance Suite" for instance was inspired by the music of Bach; the six solo Cello Suites. It is one of a series featuring particular dancers, in this case Giuliana, who beautifully captured the flowing style and stark emotions of these baroque dance masterpieces.
A dancer once told me that the nearest she could come to describing the act of dancing was as if the air itself was solid and she moved into that solid space to cut through it and own it in her own way. I similarly use the space of the canvas as that solid air and try to give the viewer a sense of how a particular body moved within and occupied a particular space. From Degas through Rodin to Matisse and Pollock the dancer in art has influenced my painting, in Pollock's case the artist himself became the dancer and that quicksilver approach to nuance of movement is one that I adopt, by working very quickly in real-time. The paintings and drawings, which precede them, are always works in progress, records of that spontaneity of expression. The brush becomes an extension of the body, a dancers limb, a fleeting moment captured but hopefully revealing of something that endures of the human form, forever in motion.
"Dance takes abstraction further. It has no physical form. It comes from what the dancers do…… it has no objective reality. Its reality is virtual not physical"
Candida Smith
"Dance is the hidden language of the soul"
Martha Graham
DAVID COTTINGHAM ABSTRACT PAINTINGS
The acrylic abstract paintings are inspired by landscapes, cities, spaces, memories and the emotional power of colour and light. They are created by dragging and dripping the paint, as well as using the brush and contain many overlaid glazed areas where planes, levels, horizons and depths combine to create an intense colour experience.
These paintings are evocative abstractions of place and contain visual symbols of landscape, reinforcing the idea that no abstract is completely removed from the external world. Like the figure paintings, they are both rhythmical in form and improvisational in style.
Their influences are very varied, some are based on the images of astronomy, others are about light and the subtle effects light has on our perception of the world and some are very particular landscapes.
They are generally grouped in series, each containing works on different themes. The Eclipse series was triggered by observing solar and lunar eclipses and the powerful emotional effects they have on us, with their sudden contrasts of light and dark. The series tries to evoke a sense of being on the earth and looking at the universe. The First Light series tries to recreate the experience of light as landscape, particularly its extremes of early morning and dusk. The Isle of Skye paintings are examples of this ever changing colour drama of the land, sea and sky.
Living in London the light of the city is very important to me, particulary the river light and its constantly shifting effect on the emotions. The Thames Light series is attempting to express this revelation of light falling on buildings and water, revealing the light and dark history of this great city.
"Night and the River" was inspired by the Thames at Hammersmith and is in part also a tribute to the composer Gustav Holst who lived and worked there. He wrote the mystical Planets Suite nearby and this connection with the night sky, which has always influenced artists, also proves a great source of fascination for me.
Cities are also alive at night with their own light. "Manhattan" was painted after my first visit there and is influenced both by the shape of the island with its uptown, downtown quality. Bounded by rivers and with Broadway cutting through its grid pattern it also contains extraordinary perspectives, revealing both horizontal and vertical horizons. Looking down from the high rise at the rivers of light from the cars below you are aware of the infinite variation of light and landscape.
"The psychological power of colour….calls forth a vibration from the soul" Kandinsky
DAVID COTTINGHAM ABSTRACT PAINTINGS as pdf-File 43,3 KB
David Cottingham : The Dance Paintings as pdf-File 48,9 KB |
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