As one of the most prominent contemporary artists of post-painterly abstraction, Ian Davenport has injected new life to the practice of painting. The artist consistently creates complex colour arrangements in vertical lines of varying widths. Starting out to only have had experimented with monochromatic or subtle hues, he expanded his repertoire and proceeded to work with bright, vibrant tones from animated sitcoms in popular culture – such as The Simpsons. His works are formal and calculated, but also vulnerable to unassailable forces of gravity and chance. Seeking inspiration from Italian frescoes, cars, street signs, and Flamenco, Davenport works by pouring gloss paint from heavy-duty syringes spaced along the top of the working surface, and then tilting it, or simply allowing the paint to overflow and ooze into concentric puddles. Borne out of rigorous experimentation, the artist creates works that explore physical and psychological relationships between the viewer and his visual culture with sensory immediacy.

Ian Davenport was born in Sidcup in London in 1966. He studied art at the Northwich College of Art and Design in Cheshire before going to Goldsmiths College from where he graduated in 1988. The artist was commissioned to create a site-specific installation for Bank BNP Paribas in London in 1997; a 13-metre mural for the Tate Triennial in 2003; a wall painting for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Warwick University; and most notably, a 48-metre long painting for Southwark Council and Land Securities in 2006. His works can be found in many important collections worldwide, including the Arts Council Collection in London; The British Council in London; Daimler Chrysler Collection in Stuttgart; Dallas Museum of Art in Texas; the Tate in London and the Weltkunst Collection in Zurich, among others. The artist lives and works in London.

Education

1984 -1985
Northwich College of Art and Design
1985-1988
Cheshire Goldsmith's College of Art, London (B.A. Fine Art)

Awards

2002
Placed first for Prospects, Essor Project Space, London
2000
Primo del Golfo, La Spezia, Italy
1999
John Moores Liverpool Exhibition 21
1991
Nominated for Turner Prize

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2012
Ian Davenport: Between the Lines, Art Plural Gallery, Singapore 2009    Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York 2008    Waddington Galleries, London
Gallery Hakgojae, Seoul, Korea Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh
2006
Alan Cristea Gallery, London
2005
Galerie Slewe, Amsterdam Galerie Xippas, Paris
2004
Ikon, Birmingham
2003
Waddington Galleries, London Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh
2003
Waddington Galleries, London Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh
2001
The Box Associati, Turin Galerie Xippas, Paris
Galerie Slewe, Amsterdam
2000
Waddington Galleries, London Project Space, Tate Liverpool
1999
Dundee Contemporary Arts Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
1998
Galerie Xippas, Paris 1997    Galerie Limmer, Cologne; Galleria Moncada, Rome
1996
Statements, Waddington Galleries, Art 27'96, Basel
Ridinghouse Editions, London
Waddington Galleries, London
1994
Turner & Byrne Gallery, Dallas, Texas
1993
Waddington Galleries, London
1992
Galerie Ludwig, Krefeld, Germany
Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin
Galerie Limmer, Freiburg, Germany
Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York
1990
Waddington Galleries, London

Selected Group Exhibitions

2012
Art Stage Singapore, Art Plural Gallery, Singapore
2007
Painting in the Noughties, Regional Cultural Arts Centre, Letterkenny, Donegal
The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2007, Jerwood Space, London
Turner Prize : A Retrospective 1984-2006, Tate Britain, London
New Space New Work, Alan Cristea Gallery, London (prints)
Between the Lines, Gallery Hakgojae, Seoul, Korea (prints)
2006-2007
You'll Never Know: Drawing and Random Interference, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston
2006-2008
Drawing Breath, The Jerwood Drawing Prize - Special Exhibition, Wimbledon College of Art, London
2006
Passion for Paint, Bristol's City Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol
National Gallery, London; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle
Colour and Chemistry, Sherbourne House, Dorset;Compilation 2, Rocket Gallery, London
How to Improve the World British Art 1946-2006, Arts Council Collection, Hayward Gallery, London;
Concrete Matters, Nieuwe Vide Gallery, Haarlem, the Netherlands
Monochromed , The Fine Art Society, London
2005
Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow, Blue?, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh
Minimalism and After IV, DaimlerChrysler Contemporary, Berlin
Painting: London, Gallery Holly Snapp, Venice
Ian Davenport, Kaoru Tsunoda, Rachmanioff's, London
Elements of Abstraction, Southampton City Art Gallery
2004
Painting as Process: Re-evaluating Painting, Earl Lu Gallery, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore
Other Times: Contemporary British Art, City Gallery, Prague
Post Impact, Xippas Gallery, Athens
John Moores 23, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
2003
Days Like These: Tate Triennial of Contemporary British Art, Tate Britain, London
Blanc en Blanc, Galerie Xippas, Paris
Exodus: between promise and fulfilment, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge On, Xippas Galerie, Athens
2002
In the Freud Museum, Freud Museum, London
Prospects 2002 Contemporary Drawing Exhibition, Essor Gallery Project
Space, London
Super-Abstr-Action 2, Galerie No Code, Bologna
Peintures - contrainte ou recette, Galerie du Cloître, Rennes (organised by L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Rennes)
Slewe Galerie, Amsterdam; Abstraction, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh
John Moores 22, The Walker, Liverpool (part of the Liverpool Biennial 2002
2001
Complementary Studies: Recent Abstract Painting, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston
Camberwell Artsweek 2001, Eger Architects, London; British Abstract Painting 2001, Flowers East, London
Jerwood Painting Prize, Jerwood Gallery, London
2000
Surface, An Tuireann, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Fact and Value, Charlottenburg Udstillingsbygning, Denmark
Profiles of Young European Painting, Premio del Golfo, La Spezia, Italy
1999
A Line in Painting, Gallery Fine, London
John Moores Liverpool 21, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool;
Now Showing II, Houldsworth Fine Art, London
1998
Elegant Austerity, Waddington Galleries, London; Up to 2000, Southampton City Art Gallery
Roberto Caracciolo, Ian Davenport, Galleria Moncada, Rome
1997
Treasure Island, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon
Ian Davenport, Michael Craig-Martin, Zebedee Jones, Michael Landy and
Fiona Rae, Waddington Galleries, London
1996-1998
About Vision: New British Painting in the 1990s, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; touring to The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
Wolsey Art Gallery, Ipswich; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
1996-1997
Ace! Arts Council Collection new purchases, South Bank Centre exhibition: touring to Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston
Oldham Art Gallery; Hayward Gallery, London
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield
Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham; Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast
Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol
1996
Nuevas Abstracciones, Palacio de Velázquez, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid
Museu d'Art Contemporani, Barcelona
50 Jahre Kunst- und Museumsverein Wuppertal, Kunsthalle Barmen, Wuppertal-Barmen, Germany
British Abstract Art Part 3: Works on Paper, Flowers East, London
1995-1996
Real Art - A New Modernism: British Reflexive Painters in the 1990s, Southampton City Art Gallery
1995
From Here, Waddington Galleries and Karsten Schubert, London 30 Years of Northern Young Contemporaries, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
1994
Here and Now, Serpentine Gallery, London; British Abstract Art Part 1: Painting, Flowers East, London; Summer 94, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York
British Painting 1988–1994: a selection from stock, Richard Salmon Ltd, London
1992-1995
New Voices: recent paintings from the British Council collection, British Council exhibition: touring to Centre de Conferences Albert Borschette, Brussels
Musée National d'Histoire et d'Art, Luxembourg; Istanbul Greater City Municipality Taksim Art Gallery
Izfas Gallery, Izmir, Turkey
Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao, Spain
Santa Monica Contemporary Art Centre, Barcelona
Centro Culturel Galileo, Madrid
Veronicas: Sala de Exposiciones, Murcia, Spain
Pescaderia Vieja: Sala de Arte, Jerez, Spain
1992
The Vertical Flatbed Picture Plane - En Valise, Turner & Byrne Gallery, Dallas, Texas; Dumb Painting, Centraal Museum, Utrecht; L'Attico, Fabio Sargentini,
Rome; Gifts to the Nation: Contemporary Art Society Purchases, Camden Arts Centre, London
1991-1992
Confrontaciones: Arte ultimo britanico y espanol, Instituto de la Juventud, Madrid (in collaboration with the British Council)
1991
British Art from 1930, Waddington Galleries, London
Metropolis Internationale Kunstausstellung, Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin
Broken English, Serpentine Gallery, London
Ian Davenport, Stephen Ellis, James Nares, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York Abstraction, Waddington Galleries, London
Turner Prize Exhibition, Tate Gallery, London
New Displays, Tate Gallery, London; Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
1990-1991
Carnet de Voyages - 1, Fondation Cartier pour l'art Contemporain, Jouy-en- Josas, France
1990    The British Art Show, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow; touring to Leeds City Art Gallery; Hayward Gallery, London
Painting Alone, Pace Gallery, New York
1989
Current, Swansea Arts Workshop, London
1988
Freeze, Surrey Docks, London: Ian Davenport, Gary Hume, Michael Landy; Karsten Schubert Gallery, London
1985
Young Contemporaries, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester

Commissions

1997
Banque Paribas, London (site-specific installation)
2004
Maths and Science Building, University of Warwick, commissioned by the university through its involvement in the Contemporary Art Society's lottery-
funded special collections project
2006
Poured Lines: Southwark Street, Southwark Western Bridge, London (commissioned by Southwark Council and Land Securities)
Commissioned by Wallpaper magazine to create a limited-edition cover for their September issue as part of their 10th-anniversary series
2007
Commissioned by The New York Times to create an American Flag based on an environmentally friendly theme, to be reproduced in their issue published
on 15th April
Poured Lines: QUBE Building, Tottenham Court Road, London (commissioned by Derwent London)

Public Collections

Arts Council Collection, Hayward Gallery, London
The British Council
Contemporary Art Society
Dallas Museum of Art, Texas
FNAC Fonds National d'Art Contemporain
The Government Art Collection (Department for Culture Media and Sport)
Museum of Modern Art, La Spezia, Italy
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Southampton City Art Gallery
Tate, London
Unilever, London
Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, Germany
Weltkunst Collection, Zurich