David Ratcliff (born 1970 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

.) is a painter based in

. His work involves spray painting on

collages Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

using appropriated images.

Early life and education

David Ratcliff was born in Los Angeles,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, in 1970. He studied at the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in 1992.

Career

Ratcliff's early work featured spray-painted stencils that appeared to compete for space on the canvas. Over time, his style evolved to incorporate more complex and abstract compositions. His work has been exhibited at prominent commercial galleries such as

Mary Boone Gallery Mary Boone (born 1952) is an American art dealer and collector. As the owner and director of the Mary Boone Gallery, she played an important role in the New York art market of the 1980s. Her first two artists, Julian Schnabel and David Salle, b ...

in New York and Peres Projects in Berlin. Additionally, his pieces were part of the USA Today exhibition at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

in London. Ratcliff's art is included in several significant collections, including the

Saatchi Gallery The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art and an independent charity opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985. Exhibitions which drew upon the collection of Charles Saatchi, starting with US artists and minimalism, moving to the ...

, Frank Cohen Museum of Contemporary Art in Manchester, and the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

.. He is represented by

Team Gallery Team Gallery was a contemporary art gallery located in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City, with an additional project space in Venice, Los Angeles, California. It was founded by José Freire and Lisa Ruyter in 1996. Team represented such a ...

in New York and

Maureen Paley Maureen Paley (born 1953Sleeman, Elizabeth (ed.) ''The International Who's Who of Women'' (London and New York: Routledge, 2002), p. 431. Entry on Paley available as snippet viehere/ref>) is the American owner of a contemporary art gallery in Be ...

in London. His artwork has been sold at

Phillips de Pury & Company Phillips, formerly known as Phillips the Auctioneers and briefly as Phillips de Pury, is a British auction house. It was founded in London in 1796, and has head offices in London and in New York City. In 2022 it was owned by the Mercury Group, ...

and

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

2011 *Portraits, Team Gallery,

, and NY 2010 *Ghost Paintings, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen,

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

*Bsckground, Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles, and CA 2009 *Maureen Paley,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

2008 *Defect's Mirror, Team Gallery, New York, and NY 2007 *Tomio Koyama Gallery,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

*Cosmetic Surgery, Team Gallery, New York, and NY *Bob Loblaw, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, and Belgium 2005 *LISTE,

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

(under the auspices of Team Gallery, and New York

Group exhibitions

2011 *The shortest distance between 2 points is often intolerable, curated by

Andrew Berardini Andrew Berardini (born August 21, 1982) is an American writer known for his work as a visual art critic and curator in Los Angeles. Described as "the most elegant of all art critic cowboys", Berardini works primarily between genres, which he desc ...

, Brand New Gallery,

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

2010 *Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, and Japan *David Ratcliff, Noriko Furunishi, Tomio Koyama Gallery,

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

, and Japan 2009 *The Night Goat Demands Reparations, curated by Adam Miller,

Art Center College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

*Cave #1, curated by Bob Nickas, Gresham's Ghost, New York, NY *Light Motive, Galerie Suzanne Tarasiéve,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

*Dark Summer, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium 2008 *History Keeps Me Awake at Night: A Genealogy of Wojnarowicz, PPOW, New York, NY *That was then... This is now PS1, New York, NY *The Hidden Maureen Paley, London, England 2007 *Post-Rose: Artists in and out of the Hazard Park Complex, curated by

Sterling Ruby Sterling Ruby (born January 21, 1972) is an American artist who works in a large variety of media including ceramics, painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, video, and textiles. Often, his work is presented in large and densely packed installatio ...

, Galerie Christian Nagel,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

*Painting as Fact, Fact as Fiction, curated by Bob Nickas, de Pury & Luxembourg,

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland 2006 *The Gold Standard, curated by Bob Nickas and

Walead Beshty Walead Beshty (born 1977) is a Los Angeles–based artist and writer. Beshty has taught at numerous schools including University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Irvine; the California Institute of the Arts; School of the Art ...

, PS1, New York, NY *The Monty Hall Problem, curated by Slater Bradley,

Blum & Poe Blum may refer to: Places * Kfar Blum, a kibbutz in Israel United States * Blum, Texas, a town * Blum Basin Falls, a waterfall in Washington * Blum Lakes, six lakes in Washington Science and technology * Blum axioms, in computational complexi ...

, Los Angeles, CA *LAXed: New Painting from L.A., Peres Projects,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

*Loveless, Team Gallery, New York, NY *I Love My Scene: Scene Two, curated by José Freire, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY 2005 *The Pantagruel Syndrome, curated by

Francesco Bonami Francesco Bonami (b. Florence, 1955) is an Italian art curator and writer. He lives in Milan and Manhattan, New York.Rachel Wolff (February 14, 2010)112 Minutes With Francesco Bonami''New York Magazine''. Life and career Bonami was born in Floren ...

and

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (born December 2, 1957) is an Italian-American writer, art historian, and exhibition maker who served as the Director of Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea in Turin in 2009 and from 2016 to 2023. She was al ...

, Turin Triennial,

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

*5 X U, Team Gallery, New York, NY

Public collections

*Frank Cohen MOCA

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, UK *Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA, USA * Jumex Collection,

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

*Saatchi Collection, London, UK

Personal life

He has a daughter.

References

External links

Saatchi Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratcliff, David 1970 births Living people 20th-century American painters 20th-century American male artists American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists Pratt Institute alumni American collage artists

Early life and education

Career

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Public collections

Personal life

See also

References

External links