Ian Davenport

Ian Davenport (B.. 1966, Sidcup, Kent)

Ian Davenport graduates from Goldsmith College, London in 1988. He is part of the Young British Artists movement, and takes part in the remarkable 1988 Freeze exhibition. In 1990, two years after graduating, Davenport’s has his first solo exhibition at Waddington Galleries, London, and in the same year, his work is included in The British Art Show, touring to Leeds City Art Gallery and Hayward Gallery, London. Davenport is a nominee for the Turner Prize in 1991, the youngest artist ever to be nominated.

An abstract painter, Davenport is recognised for his complex compositions of streams of coloured paint flowing over the surface. Davenport pours liquid paint onto a tilted surface, allowing the paint to gently spill over the surface. Gravity plays an important role in the creation of his works, in which control and chance often interact. Davenport often uses fibreboard and household glass paint, allowing a natural reflection into his paintings.

In 1999, Davenport is awarded the John Moores Painting Prize. He exhibits with galleries internationally and with numerous museums worldwide. Solo museum shows include Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, Tate Liverpool., Dallas Contemporary, and group shows The Royal Academy of Arts, London, Tate Britain, .Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai. His work is included in important museum collections throughout the world, including Tate, London; National Museum Wales, Cardiff; Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal; and Dallas Museum of Art, Texas.

In 2017, Davenport is invited to produce a pavilion for the 57th Venice Biennale for Swatch. he receives commissions for public installations, most notably Southwark Council to produce ‘Poured Lines: Southwark Street’, a 48 metre long painting which was completed in 2006 as part of the regeneration of Bankside.