Current Exhibitions
David Whitaker - Composer of colour
Saturday 28 January - 28 March 2012
For the first time in decades, Kingston artist David Whitaker’s (1938 - 2007) visually fascinating art will be available to the Kingston audience in a major exhibition celebrating his career at Kingston Museum. Spanning five decades, David Whitaker: Composer of Colour is a retrospective exhibition that groups together work from his vibrant career.
Whitaker was just thirteen when he enrolled at the Blackpool and the Fylde School of Art, and continued to study there until financial necessity moved him to London in search of paid work. An initial job as graphic designer didn’t suit, but the early shifts of a milkman fitted with his desire to paint all afternoon. He was accepted to the Royal Academy Schools in 1962, explored landscape painting, then graduated as a painter of abstract works. Throughout his career, Whitaker explored the effects of colour modulation, contrast and combination on the viewer’s perception, creating dynamic, pulsating images in both oils and watercolours. Whilst Bridget Riley explored the same effects in black and white, Whitaker’s preoccupation with colour created vibrant, emotionally charged paintings distinguishing him from the perceived sterility of the Op-Art Movement.
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"Although I am deeply concerned with subliminal experience, I avoid the tragic and concentrate on more uplifting themes. Where do my themes come from? Waterfalls; shafts of light in cathedrals and forests; memories of Egypt; coastlines; the wind in the trees; rainbows; sunrises and sunsets; cloud formations; America."
Using just 7 colours: two yellows, two blues, cadmium red, magenta and viridian he created the large, geometric canvases for which he is famed, and which brought him early popularity amongst the art scene. His process was influenced by the colour theory of Michel Eugene Chevreul and the Bauhaus master Johannes Itten.
Also see:
Kingston Museum
Wheatfield Way
Kingston upon Thames
KT1 2PS
Phone: 020 8547 5006
Email: culture@rbk.kingston.gov.uk