David Wightman (born in

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

1980) is an English painter known for his abstract and

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

acrylic Acrylic may refer to: Chemicals and materials * Acrylic acid, the simplest acrylic compound * Acrylate polymer, a group of polymers (plastics) noted for transparency and elasticity * Acrylic resin, a group of related thermoplastic or thermosettin ...

paintings using collaged

wallpaper Wallpaper is used in interior decoration to cover the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" to help cover uneve ...

. The art critic Tabish Khan has said that Wightman has "invented a unique way of creating paintings using collaged wallpaper". He graduated with an MA in Painting from the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

in 2003. He lives and works in London. In 2003, after being nominated for the

Lexmark Lexmark International, Inc. is a privately held American company that manufactures laser printers and imaging products. The company is headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky. Since 2016 it has been jointly owned by a consortium of three multination ...

European Art Prize, (and while still studying at the

), Meredith Etherington-Smith, former editor of

Art Review ''ArtReview'' is an international contemporary art magazine based in London, founded in 1948. Its sister publication, ''ArtReview Asia'', was established in 2013. History Launched as a fortnightly broadsheet in February 1949 by a retired country ...

, said of his short-listed piece: "David Wightman frames his picture perfect Swiss postcard in the cool collateral of a

Ben Nicholson Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscapes, and still-life. He was one of the leading promoters of abstract art in England. Backg ...

modernist painting". In 2009, he showed a large site-specific painting: ''Behemoth'' at

Cornerhouse Cornerhouse was a cinema and contemporary visual arts centre next to Oxford Road Station on Oxford Street, Manchester, England, from 1985 to 2015. It had three floors of art galleries, three cinemas, a bookshop, bar and café. Cornerhouse was ...

, Manchester (2009) and went on to exhibit with Sumarria Lunn Gallery at The Hempel, London (2010). In 2010-11 he was one of two artists (the other being

Hannah Maybank Hannah Maybank (born in Stafford 1974) is a British artist best known for the ripped and distressed surfaces of her three-dimensional paintings in acrylic. She graduated from an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art, London, in 1999, foll ...

) selected for the Berwick Gymnasium Arts Fellowships - a six-month residency supported by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

and

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

. The residency took place in a

Nicholas Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor ( – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principal architects ...

designed former military gymnasium in

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. In 2013, he was commissioned by HOUSE Festival in Brighton (selected by artist Mariele Neudecker) to make a site-specific painting for a disused pavilion on Brighton's seafront. The piece (''Hero'') is the largest painting by the artist to date. Cherie Federico, editor of ''

Aesthetica ''Aesthetica Magazine'' is a publication focusing on art and culture. Established in 2002, the magazine provides bi-monthly coverage of contemporary art across various disciplines, including visual arts, photography, architecture, fashion, an ...

'' magazine has said: "You must spend time with Wightman’s paintings; on the surface they are beautiful and intricate, but like the layers they are made from, there is so much depth to his works". In 2012 he had his first major solo show entitled ''Paramour'' at

Halcyon Gallery Halcyon Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in London. Founded by Paul Green in 1982 in Birmingham, Halcyon Gallery has more than 40 years of experience working with, developing and showcasing both established and emerging contemporary artist ...

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 ...

. His work is held in several public collections including the Royal College of Art and General Energy UK. Wightman collaborated with the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

fashion house Akris as part of their Fall / Winter 2014/15 collection. Wightman's first international solo show opened in October 2018 at Duran, Mashaal Gallery in

Montréal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada. Wightman's last UK solo show ''My Atalanta'' opened in October 2021 a
Long & Ryle
London. The gallery director Sarah Long has said of his work: "His landscape paintings are beautiful distractions. The intricate collaged wallpaper and unusual colour choices are compelling: they function as abstract compositions as well as imaginary vistas. His paintings offer a glimpse of another world - seemingly real yet entirely fictional".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wightman, David 1980 births Living people 20th-century English painters 21st-century English painters Alumni of the Royal College of Art English contemporary artists English landscape painters English male painters Artists from Stockport 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English male artists

References

Further reading

External links