David Whittaker 'Brief Moment in the Exposure'

DAV I D W H I T TA K E R

Brief Moment In The Exposure

“Who are YOU?” said the Caterpillar. This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, “I--I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, 1865

On the wall of David Whittaker’s small studio is a clipping of a photograph of Alice Liddell age 9. I ask David why the picture sits there modestly enshrined. He explains: ‘There she is at the start of her life, innocent and clearly full of imagination and possibility, alive and looking back at you. But now she’s gone and the rest becomes a history almost lost - like a trail of vapour’.

Its a moving and melancholy notion. Further conversation makes it clear that life and its transience is what David aims to grab hold of and place in a metaphorical jar or rabbit hole, which can always be escaped into. This is clearly a monumental endeavour. I cannot stress enough the magnitude of such an artistic objective, or how impressed I am by Whittaker’s handling of it.

Most of the works are based around the loose form of the human head and its metaphysical core. Ambiguous non-specific portraits, walking a high wire perfectly balanced between states of calm and conflict, confidence and nervousness, hopes and fears, conscious and subconscious, male and female. They are innately, universally human. ‘A Brief Moment in the Exposure’ then becomes the perfect title to this exhibition, speaking of the practical function of a solo exhibition, but more profoundly of our time here and the things that make it what it is and indeed who we are.

The story of young Alice and her journey through Wonderland, also hints at Whittaker’s suggestion that we are what we dream we will become when in a state of openness or susceptibility. Whittaker is generally reluctant to make statements about the work, but hinted at his personal story in a short poetic verse which preceded the creation of the ‘This Lasts Longer Than Love’ series of works in this catalogue: ‘The undeniable tension...a conflict of two genders in one unit...as a tank it moves forward, challenging the histories of the head as it is... this is the truth… For we are the evolution of dreams’. There is a suggestion of the powerful and inescapable link between Whittaker and his art: that both live through each other and that the paintings unmask and reveal a true identity. This identity is ambiguous, internal and ephemeral, our own warren to explore, but where some of the tunnels remain blocked consciously or unconsciously. Through art these tunnels can be accessed.

Philosophically it is an interesting concept that everything that we witness, think, dream, and have said to us can inform and indeed change the person we are, and result in an ever-expanding maze of the self. Like Lorenz’s ‘Butterfly Effect’ which suggested that one flap of a butterfly’s wings can change the weather forever – any matter of stimulus can alter and inform what we are to become. We are all in a constant state of flux or metamorphosis.

The last two years have been important in Whittaker’s personal and artistic evolution. It is my second experience of working with him, and in that time I have seen considerable development. A process of transformation has taken place. The works have become much more personal and open, as Whittaker has gained in confidence. The voice of a quiet man is becoming much more definite and the power of his images much more profound.

So here we have a collection of paintings, which make the prodigious journey from the womb to the tomb. What objective could be more monumental than that?

Joseph Clarke

1

Mothers Of The Hip acrylic, collage and china marker on primed board 28 x 28 cm each panel (triptych)

2

3

4

Edit The Blood acrylic, collage and china marker on primed board 28 x 28 cm each panel (triptych)

5

This Mirror acrylic, collage and china marker on primed board 28 x 28 cm each panel (triptych)

6

7

Hedgerow Of Comic Book Eyes oil, acrylic, china marker and collage on primed wood panel 30 x 30 cm 8

Run Free Plains oil, acrylic, china marker and collage on primed wood panel 30 x 30 cm 9

Another Day Passes Into History oil, acrylic, china marker and collage on primed wood panel 30 x 30 cm 10

Born In Mothers Wine oil, acrylic, china marker and collage on primed wood panel 30 x 30 cm 11

Rimmel In Sunset oil, acrylic, china marker and collage on primed wood panel 30 x 30 cm 12

In Empathy oil, acrylic, china marker and collage on primed wood panel 30 x 30 cm 13

OphĂŠlie Renouard oil, acrylic, china marker and collage on primed wood panel 30 x 30 cm 14

Fell oil, acrylic, china marker and collage on primed wood panel 30 x 30 cm 15

I Sleep With My Truth oil, acrylic, china marker and collage on primed wood panel 30 x 30 cm 16

Caterpillars Of The Heart oil, acrylic, china marker and collage on primed wood panel 30 x 30 cm 17

‘A face is a flag woven by its upbringing and beliefs’ David Whittaker, 2009

18

Streets Of Crosses Driven By A Divine Scent Our Mines Like Razorblades In Our Modern Heir oil, acrylic, china marker and varnish on primed wood panel 61 x 61 cm 19

There’s No Easy Way Out Of This Baby oil, acrylic, china marker and varnish on primed wood panel 61 x 61 cm 20

For Here The Eternal Rabbit Hole Lingers oil, acrylic, china marker and varnish on primed wood panel 61 x 61 cm 21

And oil, acrylic, china marker and varnish on primed wood panel 61 x 61 cm 22

For Mahler oil, acrylic, china marker and varnish on primed wood panel 61 x 61 cm 23

Fools In The Daylight oil, acrylic, china marker and varnish on primed wood panel 61 x 61 cm 24

Through A Shimmering Stream Your Glistening Mouth Like A Monet oil, acrylic, china marker and varnish on primed wood panel 61 x 61 cm 25

Heartbreak Of The Vuillard oil, acrylic, china marker and varnish on primed wood panel 61 x 61 cm 26

On The Edge Of An Abyss Of Vanity oil, acrylic, china marker and varnish on primed wood panel 61 x 61 cm 27

Western Boys oil and acrylic on canvas 122 x 122 cm

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Western Boys 2 oil and acrylic on canvas 122 x 122 cm

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SELECTED CV David Whittaker was born in Cornwall in 1964. He is self taught.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2009 2008 2001 2000 1998 1997 1996 1992

Brief Moment In The Exposure If This Life, Goldfish, Penzance Gallery Excalibur, Stressa, Italy Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall Open Studio, St Ives, Cornwall Open Studio, St Ives, Cornwall Open Studio, St Ives, Cornwall Hyde Park Gallery, London

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2009

2008

2007

2005 2004 2003

2002 2001 2000 1999

1998

1994 1993

Mixed Exhibition, Millennium London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington NSA Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol Mixed Exhibition, Goldfish, Penzance Winter Exhibition, Millennium London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington Mixed / No Theme, Goldfish, Penzance Winter Exhibition, Goldfish, Penzance Summer Exhibition, Goldfish, Penzance Winter Exhibition, Goldfish, Penzance Move, Goldfish at Vyner Street, London A Fine Line, Artonomy, Truro Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Piccadilly, London The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London Debut Show, Gallery One O Two, London Inaugural St. Ives Festival Show, The Mariners Gallery, St. Ives Christmas Show, Lemon Street Gallery, Truro, Cornwall Show for Reuters, Britart, Brick Lane, London One Foot Two Show, Mafuji Gallery, London Hidden Art (a collaboration of workshops and studios in East London) Millennium Exhibition, Mafuji Gallery, London Summer Show, Wimbledon Art Group, London Selected Artists, Raw Art Gallery, London Gallery Show, New Millennium Gallery, St. Ives, Cornwall Summer Show, Highgate Fine Art, London Listed in the dictionary of Arts in Britain since 1945 by David Buckman Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, California, USA Gallery Show, Salthouse Gallery, St. Ives, Cornwall

PUBLICATIONS

2009 2008 2007 2006

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Brief Moment In The Exposure catalogue, published by Millennium If This Life catalogue, published by Goldfish, Penzance Move catalogue, published by Goldfish, Penzance Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945, David Buckman, published by Art Dictionaries

Published by Millennium to coincide with the exhibition ‘Brief Moment in The Exposure’ by David Whittaker All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers

Printed by Control Print, Redruth

ISBN 978-1-905772-21-1

MILLENNIUM Str eet-an-Pol St. Ives Cornwall 01736 793121 m a i l @ m i l l e n n i u m g a l l e r y. c o . u k w w w . m i l l e n n i u m g a l l e r y. c o . u k