UNEARTHED SELECTED WORKS
DAVID CASS
FOREWORD David Cass has an innate understanding of matiere; a sensitivity to material, its texture, tone, pigment, weight and beyond this its context, history and emotional resonance. He works with found objects and by an act of appropriation and minimal interventionperhaps merely turning the front of a drawer through ninety degrees he creates works of art with quiet authority. The first act in the creative process is therefore to search (most recently long days spent in the flea markets of Brussels where printers trays and old, handwritten envelopes suggested themselves as his canvas). From the accumulation of material in his studio ideas for a seascape emerge from the grain of a wooden tray or a collection of matchboxes are placed and painted; pinned in permanent, significant order belying their ordinary journeys. Guy Peploe - The Scottish Gallery
Lauder Moor V | 39 x 85 cm | gouache on compositor’s case (rear) £1,400
21. 8. 11 D AV ID C A S S U n e a r t h e d includes selec ted works conceived in Floren c e , Br u sse l s, P a r i s a n d a t h ome in the Scottish Borders. I spent three m o n t h s i n F l o r e n c e ( S e p t e m ber - December 2010), on a Royal Scottish Aca d e m y S c h o l a r s h i p . M y f e l l o w scholars and I took regular train and bus jou r n e y s a r o u n d Tu sc a n y ; t h e gently moulded, flowing, fern green Autumn c o u n t r y s i d e p r o v e d t o b e a n immense source of inspiration - the hilltop tow n S a n G i m i g n a n o , w i t h i t s ancient golden sandstone walls was somewhere I w a s p a r t i c u l a r l y d r a w n t o . A three-day walk along Liguria’s Cinque Ter r e w a s e q u a l l y r i c h i n i n s p i r ation. The constantly changing enigma that i s F l o r e n c e b e c a m e a k i n d , sensitive and giving city - which eventually o ff e r e d m e a m u c h s o u g h t a fter ‘sense of place’ - but whose surface I bare l y t o u c h e d . B e t w e e n January and June of this year I divided my t i m e b e t w e e n B r u ss e l s , t h e Scottish Borders and Paris: though painted dep i c t i o n s o f B r u s s e l s a r e f e w, Brussels did in f act play the lead role in constr u c t i n g t h i s e x h i b i t i o n . B r ussels, in spirit, is present in every painting: e x c e p t f r o m a f e w e n v e l o p e s and postcards bought in Florence, the major i t y o f t h e s e w o r k s a r e p a i n t ed upon surfaces found in the Flea Markets a n d P e t i t s R i e n s o f B r u s s e l s - as are the majority of the objects (matchbo x e s , t i n s & b o x e s ) t h a t c o n stitute my growing collection. I t i s t h e notion of collection - of eclectic gathering: of o b j e c t s , o f m e m o r i e s, and of subject matter that lies at the heart o f m y p r a c t i c e , a n d I h o p e t o instill a viewer of this collection of paintings w i t h t h e s e n s e o f i n t r i g u e that I find whilst exploring a new town like Sa n G i m i g n a n o , o r r u m m a g i n g around the J eu De Balle Flea Market in Bru sse l s. O p p o s i t e : ‘Kamel Brand ’ Matchbox (unframed) | gouac h e o n w o o d | £ 1 7 5
Paris Skyline II | 40 x 59 cm | gouache on two drawers | £900 Opposite: Paris looking on to Montmartre | 10 x 10 cm | oil on card | £270
Above: Train - Paris to la Rochelle | 49.5 x 66.5 cm | gouache on letterset case | £900 Opposite (clockwise from left): Horizon (Matchbox) | 5.5 x 7.5 cm | gouache on found board | £200 Bus, Florence - Pisa (Sketch) | 6.5 x 7.5 cm | gouache on wood | £300 Gozo | 8.5 x 11.8 cm | gouache on board | £300
Opposite: Bus: Florence - Pisa | 55 x 56 cm | gouache on two mirrors | £720 Paris Skyline IV (detail) | 35 x 24 cm | gouache on board | £450
Left: San Gimignano, Piazza Duomo, Family Crests II 85 x 39 cm | gouache on compositor’s case £1400 Right: Hegau (Matchbox) 7 x 10 cm gouache on wood £175
Untitled Seascape II | 5.4 x 5.2 cm | oil on cardboard box | ÂŁ100 Opposite: Land and Seascape Matchboxes Assorted Compositions in Gouache | each box 2.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 cm
Opposite: Untitled Seascape III | 129 x 94 cm | gouache on two floorboards | £2,600 Below: Untitled Seascape IV | 8.6 x 15 cm | gouache on two wooden cupboard feet | £150
Florence, Duomo II | 9.5 x 10.8 cm | gouache on canvas | ÂŁ260
Florence, the Arno, Night II | 7.5 x 12.5 cm | gouache on linen | ÂŁ260
San Gimignano, via San Giovanni | 74.5 x 106.5 cm | gouache on drawing board | ÂŁ2,300 Opposite: San Gimignano, via San Giovanni (sketch) | 9 x 14 cm | oil on postcard | ÂŁ190
Florence and the Arno from Piazza Michelangelo (detail) 40.5 x 85 cm | gouache on compositor’s case | £1400 Opposite: Florence and the Arno from Piazza Michelangelo II 10.5 x 9.7 cm | gouache on board | £300
The Arno (Sketch) | 7.5 x 10.5 cm | oil on mounted photograph | ÂŁ90 Opposite: Studio Scene (Travel Artworks)
Opposite: Florence Skyline (Puy de Dome Postmark) | 9 x 14 cm | oil on postcard | £190 Above: Walking the Cinque Terre II 34 x 26 cm | £590 Right: Walking the Cinque Terre I 10.3 x 7.3 cm | £330
Untitled Seascape V | 67 x 135.5 cm acrylic & gouache on tabletop | ÂŁ2,600
www.scottish-gallery.co.uk www.davidcass.co.uk
THESCOT TISHGALLERY CONTEMPORARY ART SINCE 1842
Lauder Moor (Firenze Postmark) | 9.6 x 14.5 cm | gouache on postcard | £190 Previous page: Florence, Via di San Leonardo, Wall | 18.5 x 24 cm | gouache on box | £390
Front Cover Image: Untitled Seascape I | 13.7 x 12.8 cm gouache on coffee grinder drawer (rear) | ÂŁ570