Background
Ian Davenport was born on July 8, 1966 in Sidcup, London, England, United Kingdom.
Davenport studied at Goldsmiths College.
Ian Davenport was born on July 8, 1966 in Sidcup, London, England, United Kingdom.
Davenport studied at Goldsmiths College alongside notable peers such as Damien Hirst, Michael Landy,Gary Hume, and Sarah Lucas. He graduated in 1988.
Two years after graduating Davenport he had his first solo show at Waddington Galleries, London, in 1990. Davenport is driven by an enduring fascination with the materiality and process of painting and printmaking. His abstract paintings are made by pouring and dripping household paint onto prepared canvases, boards and aluminium panels, tilted so that gravity and the consistency of the paint determine the final composition. . This approach both systematic and random, predetermining both materials and process, results in paintings whose effect is based on physical immediacy rather than any theoretical background. Over the past ten years he has turned his attention to screenprinting and etching, building up an impressive body of graphic work.
Davenport has exhibited extensively across the world, including major institutional shows at Dundee Contemporary Arts (1999); Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2004); Tate Liverpool (2000) and Dallas Contemporary, Texas (2018). He has completed major commissions including Poured Lines: Southwark Street, London (2006), a 48 metre wide painting on a bridge which is one of the largest permanent public artworks in the UK. At the 2017 Venice Biennale he presented an installation of over 1,000 stripes, a commission by Swatch, together with a Swatch Art special watch. In 2016 he hand-painted a series of porcelain plates in collaboration with Meissen, commissioned by South London Gallery, designed a special edition bag for Christian Dior's Lady Art project. In 2010 he completed a residency programme at The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation in Connecticut, USA. Alan Cristea Gallery is the exclusive worldwide representative for Ian Davenport's original prints. Ian Davenport lives and works in London.
Matt Black and Gloss
1991Poured Lines: Light Violet, Green, Blue, Red, Violet
1995Poured Lines: Orange
2005Poured Lines, Southwark Street
2009Poured Lines: Yellow
2007Poured Painting: Orange, Red, Orange
1996Poured Reversal Painting: Light Blue, Blue
1999Puddle Painting: Magenta
2008Untitled
2995Untitled
1995Untitled Circle Painting: 12 multicoloured panels, no.1
2003