Ian Davenport (artist)

{{Short description|English artist}}

{{EngvarB|date=November 2013}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Ian Davenport

| image = Ian Davenport (2018).jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Davenport (2018)

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1966|7|8|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Sidcup, London, England

| death_date =

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| field = Painting, Printmaking

| training = Northwich College of Art and Design, Goldsmiths College

| movement =

| works =

| influenced by =

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File:Maths foyer, Warwick University.jpg Institute of Mathematics and Statistics foyer{{cite web |url=http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/art/artist/iandavenport/wu0817 |title=Everything by Ian Davenport |publisher=University of Warwick |access-date=12 October 2011}}]]

Ian Davenport (born 8 July 1966) is an English abstract painter and former Turner Prize nominee.

Life and work

Ian Davenport was born in Sidcup. He studied art at Northwich College of Art and Design, in Cheshire, and then at Goldsmiths College, from where he graduated in 1988.{{cite web |url=http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/art/artist/iandavenport |title=Ian Davenport |publisher=University of Warwick Art Collection |access-date=9 November 2013}} The same year he exhibited in the Freeze exhibition at Surrey Docks organised by Damien Hirst.{{Cite book |last=Jeffrey |first=Ian |title=Freeze |publisher=London Docklands Development Corporation |year=1988}} In 1990 Davenport's first solo show was held at Waddington Galleries and he was included in the British Art Show. In 1991, he was nominated for the annual Turner Prize.Serena Davies (19 August 2006). [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3654625/Dance-to-the-music-of-lines.html Dance to the music of lines]. The Telegraph. Accessed October 2013.Tom Teodorczuk (6 September 2006). [https://www.standard.co.uk/arts/tate-lines-up-bankside-mural-7178279.html Tate lines up bankside mural]. London Evening Standard. Accessed October 2013. In 1999, he had a solo exhibition at Dundee Contemporary Arts{{Cite book |last=Watkins |first=Jonathan |title=Ian Davenport Paintings |publisher=Dundee Contemporary Arts |year=1999 |isbn=0-9535178-1-0}} and was a prizewinner at the John Moores exhibition 21 in Liverpool.{{Cite web |date=1999 |title=John Moores exhibition 21 |url=https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatson/walker-art-gallery/exhibition/john-moores-exhibition-21 |website=liverpoolmuseums.org.uk}}

Many of his works are made by pouring paint onto a tilted surface and letting gravity spread the paint over the surface.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/sep/20/guide-to-painting-ian-davenport |title=Artist Ian Davenport on how he paints |author=Ian Davenport |newspaper=The Observer |date=20 September 2009 |access-date=9 November 2013}} For the Days Like These exhibition at Tate Britain in 2003, he made a thirteen-metre-high mural by dripping lines of differently-coloured paint down the wall from a syringe. His most comprehensive exhibition to date was held at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham in 2004.{{Cite web |date=2004 |title=Ian Davenport |url=https://www.ikon-gallery.org/exhibition/ian-davenport |website=ikon-gallery.org}} The same year he was commissioned by the Contemporary Art Society to make a wall painting for the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics at Warwick University.{{Cite web |title=Everything by Ian Davenport |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/services/art/artist/iandavenport/wu0817 |website=warwick.ac.uk |publisher=University of Warwick}}

In September 2006, Davenport unveiled his largest public commission to date in the arches beneath Southwark Bridge, entitled Poured Lines: Southwark.{{Cite web |last=Griffiths |first=Emma |date=5 September 2006 |title=The Big Picture |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5315186.stm |publisher=BBC News}} He painted the West End Wall of the University of Oxford Department of Biochemistry.{{cite web|url=http://saltbridges.bioch.ox.ac.uk/westendwall.html |title=West End Wall, Salt Bridges, University of Oxford |publisher=Saltbridges.bioch.ox.ac.uk |date=26 January 2007 |access-date=7 August 2012}}

In 2012, Davenport was commissioned to design an 'Arty Wenlock' for the London Olympics. It was installed on the Thames pathway between the Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern, for the duration of the games.{{Cite web |last=Prynn |first=Jonathan |date=7 September 2012 |title=Games mascots make £400,000 for Mayor's charity |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/games-mascots-make-ps400-000-for-mayor-s-charity-8116779.html |website=Evening Standard|location=London}}

A monograph on him was published in 2014.{{cite web|title=Ian Davenport: The Book|url=http://www.iandavenportstudio.com/texts/the-book/|publisher=Ian Davenport Studio|date=2014}}

Davenport showed three decades of work in a solo survey exhibition at Dallas Contemporary, Texas, in 2018.{{Cite web |last=Simpson |first=Veronica |date=26 September 2018 |title=Ian Davenport: Colourscapes |url=https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/ian-davenport-video-interview-colourscapes-waddington-custot-horizons-dallas-contemporary |website=studiointernational.com}}

He is a Patron of Paintings in Hospitals, a charity that provides art for health and social care in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.{{Cite web |last=Wrathall |first=Claire |date=13 October 2017 |title=Exploring the palliative power of art |url=https://scottmeadfineartphotography.com/news/ft-how-to-spend-it-power-of-art/ |website=howtospendit.ft.com}}

References

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