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W h i t t a k e R
DAVID KIM WHITTAKER<br />
A PORTRAIT FOR HUMAN PRESENCE
CONTENTS<br />
THE EXISTENCE<br />
THIS MIRROR<br />
'I' IS A LANDSCAPE<br />
WORKS<br />
BIOGRAPHY<br />
8<br />
18<br />
24<br />
28<br />
158
Published by Fondazione Mudima, Via Alessandro Tadino, 26, 20124 Milano, Italy in 2017<br />
© 2017:<br />
Paintings: David Kim Whittaker from 2011-2017<br />
Photography of Paintings: Joseph Clarke, Alban Roinard & Graeme Gaunt<br />
Portrait & Detail Photographs from the Studio:<br />
Joseph Clarke (pages 2, 6/7, 10/11, 16/17, 21, 22/23, 26/27, 156/157, 159) & Lauren Bowley (pages 15, 25 & 160)<br />
Words: Joseph Clarke, David Kim Whittaker & David Rosenberg<br />
Design: Joseph Clarke<br />
Cover Image: 'Portrait <strong>for</strong> Human Presence XII (Maximum in Life Not Death)'<br />
All rights reserved. Except <strong>for</strong> the purposes of review, no part of this <strong>book</strong> may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,<br />
in any <strong>for</strong>m or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.<br />
Produced with the kind support of Opera Gallery (operagallery.com)<br />
ISBN 978-88-99925-11-6
For Mum...<br />
...memory is no small thing
THE EXISTENCE<br />
JOSEPH CLARKE<br />
“From the standpoint of daily life,<br />
however, there is one thing we do<br />
know: that we are here <strong>for</strong> the sake of each<br />
other - above all <strong>for</strong> those upon whose<br />
smile and well-being our own happiness<br />
depends, and also <strong>for</strong> the countless<br />
unknown souls with whose fate we are<br />
connected by a bond of sympathy. Many<br />
times a day I realize how much my own<br />
outer and inner life is built upon the labors<br />
of my fellow men, both living and dead,<br />
and how earnestly I must exert myself<br />
in order to give in return as much as I<br />
have received”.<br />
Albert Einstein<br />
post-war arts heritage combined with its<br />
picture perfect surroundings. Just away<br />
from the harbour front, I found a narrow<br />
passage way. Half way down, in a small<br />
unit, I first encountered a young, not fully<br />
artistically matured, David Kim standing<br />
alongside his imposing paintings. It<br />
seemed strange and askew. Brutal and<br />
confrontational. ‘He’ and ‘it’ didn’t fit at all<br />
with the surroundings. Amongst the trivial<br />
it was the first and only visceral encounter<br />
with something that hooked me in this<br />
strange little town. Of course this was<br />
many years ago and much has changed,<br />
but I mention it only to emphasize the<br />
importance of this task to me. Our paths<br />
have inter-twined <strong>for</strong> so long now.<br />
On embarking on the compiling of this<br />
publication on the enigmatic artwork of<br />
David Kim Whittaker and the curation of<br />
the related exhibition at the Fondazione<br />
Mudima in Milan, I have found it important<br />
to reflect on the purpose of centering my<br />
own life within the world of 'art'. This is a<br />
project I feel obligated to do full justice.<br />
I first met Whittaker 25 years ago. I was<br />
16 years old, visiting St. Ives in Cornwall,<br />
England on family holiday. This small town<br />
was full of trashy tourist galleries, a twisted<br />
by-product mutating from an important<br />
So to return to my questioning; why the<br />
field of ‘art'? I often feel baffled by our<br />
species. When I struggle to breath; 'arts'<br />
potential occasionally offers me a gulp<br />
of air. The objective world we create<br />
seems ever increasingly obsessed with<br />
logical observation. Finding answers to<br />
questions, often without first interrogating<br />
our requirements from those answers, or<br />
even if the questions pursued are of<br />
fundamental moral value or reward. 'Our'<br />
quantified world has become ever messy.<br />
The mysteries of which are only ever<br />
8
justified when answers can be clearly<br />
pointed at and measurements taken;<br />
when things are proven. Proof. I’ve never<br />
really understood it. For me it never seems<br />
to prove much at all. The true nature of<br />
reality has always been a little beyond my<br />
comprehension. Personally, I'm content<br />
with that; <strong>for</strong> everything to be possible<br />
and nothing fixed. So my ‘art’ world, the<br />
camp where I have pitched my existential<br />
tent, when functioning at its best, is a<br />
celebration of the metaphysical abstract<br />
over the empirical. Metaphysics continues<br />
to ask questions where science gives up,<br />
and it doesn’t even expect the answers.<br />
For me that is where truth hides, in the<br />
acceptance that ‘all' cannot be pinned<br />
down and will, and perhaps should, always<br />
be beyond us. Fundamental questions<br />
and the neccesary faith that ensues, offer<br />
me far more com<strong>for</strong>t than proof. Carl<br />
Jung wrote in ‘The Archetypes and the<br />
Collective Unconscious’; “If it be true that<br />
there can be no metaphysics transcending<br />
<strong>human</strong> reason, it is no less true that there<br />
can be no empirical knowledge that is not<br />
already caught and limited by the a priori<br />
structure of cognition”.<br />
David Kim Whittaker is the quintessential<br />
ontological artist, whose whole life has<br />
been an examination of what it is to be<br />
<strong>human</strong>, whilst simultaneously greeting<br />
the impossibility of the task. Instead the<br />
remaining (no small) duty is to catch the<br />
moth in the net <strong>for</strong> the briefest of moments,<br />
accepting that it must once again be<br />
set free.<br />
In an introduction I once wrote <strong>for</strong> David<br />
Kim I included the following from Lewis<br />
Carroll’s 1865 classic ‘Alice’s Adventures<br />
in Wonderland’; “Who are YOU?” said the<br />
Caterpillar. This was not an encouraging<br />
opening <strong>for</strong> a conversation. Alice replied,<br />
rather shyly, “I - I hardly know, sir, just<br />
at present - at least I know who I WAS<br />
when I got up this morning, but I think I<br />
must have been changed several times<br />
since then”. The story of a young Alice<br />
and her journey through Wonderland<br />
possets the notion that we are what we<br />
dream we will become. That identity is<br />
ambiguous, internal and ephemeral, our<br />
own warren to explore. Perhaps, where<br />
some of the tunnels remain blocked,<br />
consciously or unconsciously, through<br />
art they can be accessed. Philosophically<br />
it is an interesting concept that<br />
everything that we witness, think, dream,<br />
and have said to us can in<strong>for</strong>m and<br />
indeed change the person that we are.<br />
9
Resulting in an ever-expanding maze of<br />
the self. Like Lorenz’s ‘Butterfly Effect’<br />
which proposed that one flap of a<br />
butterfly’s wings can change the weather<br />
<strong>for</strong>ever; any matter of stimulus can alter<br />
and in<strong>for</strong>m what we are to become.<br />
We are all in a constant state of flux or<br />
metamorphosis. Heraclitus argued that<br />
change was ubiquitous; "You cannot step<br />
into the same river twice”. So I can't tell<br />
you who I am, or who David Kim Whittaker<br />
is, or expect you to be able to offer me the<br />
same service.<br />
On the wall of the studio is a clipping<br />
of a photograph of nine year old Alice<br />
Liddell (The real girl who inspired<br />
Carroll’s classic). I ask David Kim why the<br />
picture sits there modestly enshrined. He<br />
explains; "there she is at the start of her<br />
life, innocent and clearly full of imagination<br />
and possibility, alive and looking back<br />
at you. But now she’s gone and the rest<br />
becomes a history almost lost; like a trail<br />
of vapour, but a whisper echos". Life and<br />
its transience is what David Kim grabs<br />
hold of; the paintings are a rabbit hole,<br />
which can always be escaped into.<br />
Metamorphosis remains a theme within<br />
the work, but also in his life (the two are<br />
inextricably linked). Over the past 8 years,<br />
Whittaker has been in a state of physical<br />
and psychological development since an<br />
official diagnosis of gender dysphoria.<br />
Outside of his career as an artist, in the<br />
day-to-day, David Kim lives as ‘Kim’, a<br />
woman. Within the career David Kim is<br />
accepting and embracing of this ‘trans’<br />
state. It is what it is, neither or both,<br />
and explicitly provides an invaluable<br />
universal overarching context to the work.<br />
I emphasize universal, it is important to<br />
do so, as these paintings are <strong>for</strong>, and of,<br />
all of us. Whittaker’s complexity, integrity<br />
and fearlessness offer a distinctive and<br />
original voice. As Friedrich Nietzsche<br />
wrote in ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book<br />
<strong>for</strong> All and None’; “One must still have<br />
chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to<br />
a dancing star”.<br />
These paintings, primarily of the head,<br />
illustrate a generic duality confined within<br />
the <strong>human</strong> condition, both the physical<br />
and the emotional manifested. Primal,<br />
archetypal male attributes transcend into<br />
a feminine space. This fusion in<strong>for</strong>ms us<br />
and allows us to contemplate our species<br />
achievement and development. All our<br />
complexity. Whittaker describes his<br />
studio trials as an endless artistic search<br />
12
“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star”<br />
Friedrich Nietzsche<br />
<strong>for</strong> something as yet unseen where the<br />
works are born from moments of intense<br />
creativity, where they are pushed as<br />
far as possible. He finds the window<br />
to capture the image "relatively short<br />
be<strong>for</strong>e it disappears into itself". Moments<br />
of darkness and joy, from the cradle to<br />
the grave. The weeping, the brave face.<br />
The unpredictable nature of being. The<br />
complexities of gender. Thought and<br />
emotion, personal and universal; this is<br />
what David Whittaker describes as "the<br />
rapture of life".<br />
The studio is awash with iconic imagery<br />
which acts as stimulus to feed the soul<br />
and combines to create an inner sanctum.<br />
The space is an echo of the minds eye,<br />
yet there is always a sense of the world<br />
outside as his studio hovers in a <strong>for</strong>mer<br />
industrial office space over what he once<br />
described to me as "the scum ridden<br />
streets of Newquay", a typical weathered<br />
seaside town, in the far west of England.<br />
There is a sense of an embracing of this<br />
literal ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ duality in the<br />
mark making, a celebration that perhaps<br />
the self-expressions that we see on the<br />
streets; the tattoos on flesh and vestiges<br />
from spray cans and marker pens run<br />
parallel to the marks made by alternative<br />
civilizations on indigenous tribal skin,<br />
in rococo sgraffito and scratched on to<br />
primeval cave walls. That we are merely<br />
another tribe paying homage to our<br />
past, recording our present and casting<br />
an echo in to the future through the<br />
markings that we make. All expressions<br />
of our uniquely <strong>human</strong>, universal story<br />
and as Georg Hegel once said it “World<br />
history is the record of the minds ef<strong>for</strong>t to<br />
understand itself”.<br />
Our experience of existence is where the<br />
'inner' and the 'outer' world collide. Where<br />
the messy web of all that envelopes us,<br />
smothering and com<strong>for</strong>ting, tearing<br />
and stroking takes place. The 'self' is<br />
the canvas placed at the centre of this<br />
universal battle. This discord saturates<br />
the work and is represented in part<br />
through fine, intricate representational<br />
painting alongside erratic, gestural,<br />
impasto, often violent mark making.<br />
These differing techniques denote<br />
conflict but also manifest a place where<br />
fusion and harmony exist. We get to feel<br />
the blurring, celebratory and melancholic<br />
power of memory, the moments that aid<br />
transcendence and at the same time hint<br />
at our primal constituent. There are ghostly<br />
images of places once visited or perhaps<br />
13
“World history is the record of the minds ef<strong>for</strong>t to understand itself”<br />
Georg Hegel<br />
seen third hand in a picture, scraps of<br />
paper torn from journals once read; a story<br />
that may have moved or merely caught<br />
peripheral attention. This clinging to things<br />
that nourish our senses aknowledges that<br />
our influences and experiences become<br />
part of the fabric of who we are, fusing with<br />
our DNA. These abstracted, fragmented,<br />
<strong>human</strong> heads act as two way mirrors; a<br />
life’s moment as a small reflection on the<br />
whole of <strong>human</strong>ity.<br />
Works are often underpinned by delicate<br />
drawing created through repetitive<br />
‘prayer-like' scrawling and stenciling<br />
of found abandoned objects; lost keys,<br />
dropped coins and trinkets. Lives are<br />
traced through this discarded ephemera.<br />
A watermark is created that spirals<br />
outwards, as fluid patterns flow across<br />
the board. Cellular, bodily; molecular<br />
and cosmic. Both chaotic and intricate.<br />
Individual lost stories of the mundane and<br />
the weighty are showcased in these works;<br />
triviality and reverie collide with loss and<br />
suffering, fragility and thoughts of escape.<br />
The paintings are heavy, romantic, and<br />
sometimes tragic, whilst still remaining<br />
com<strong>for</strong>tingly prosaic. Through this sharing<br />
we are propositioned to contemplate that<br />
we may be isolated but we are not alone.<br />
I am so proud to have witnessed first<br />
hand the development of this phenomenal<br />
and phenomenological artist. David Kim<br />
Whittaker’s ambition has been to make<br />
something monumental about the <strong>human</strong><br />
condition that has not been seen be<strong>for</strong>e.<br />
To make paintings that lay down a marker<br />
or send out an echo of this life, reflecting<br />
some of the messiness of existence<br />
alongside inner utopian desire and<br />
potential. I’ve seen first hand that making<br />
work has helped Whittaker to come to<br />
terms with his own existence. An essence<br />
has been captured that will <strong>for</strong>ever remain<br />
a window <strong>for</strong> others to peer through, and<br />
in the reflection of these panels, perhaps<br />
you will catch a glimpse of yourself.<br />
Joseph Clarke is an independent curator,<br />
writer, film maker and gallery director. He<br />
has curated in excess of 100 exhibitions<br />
over a twenty year period, working with<br />
international artists in all media.<br />
14
THIS MIRROR<br />
DAVID KIM WHITTAKER<br />
Everyday be<strong>for</strong>e I go to the studio I step<br />
into my local corner shop to pick up<br />
supplies; drinks, nutri-grain bars etc,<br />
and gaze over the front covers of the<br />
newspapers. All the trouble and woe is<br />
there in front of me. Another soldier dies,<br />
a murder, a young girl bullied throws<br />
herself in front of a train. All this seeps<br />
out and into the work I make. For me it’s<br />
a way through. To find liberation. “To<br />
slither along the edge of a straight razor<br />
and survive” is what Colonel Kurtz said.<br />
It’s what we are all doing anyway in our<br />
working week, in our homes, in our beds<br />
and every time we look in the mirror.<br />
see the intrinsic elements that carousel<br />
the species in the great circus of <strong>human</strong>ity.<br />
I’m always touched by moments of pure<br />
love, of unpaid charity - funny how a little<br />
thing can change the complete course<br />
of a life so much. I’ve always found it<br />
an incredible thing when people come<br />
together, meet a partner, marry, fall totally<br />
in love with each other, give away all their<br />
internal secrets, are there <strong>for</strong> each other<br />
<strong>for</strong> many years and then they suddenly<br />
part, hating each other and fighting over<br />
money and material things. “War is love,<br />
when love wears down” The Blue Nile<br />
once sang.<br />
To be in the existence is a powerful thing.<br />
This goes through my mind most days.<br />
Since losing Mum it has come home to me<br />
that the things that you love dear, do one<br />
day depart. I like to think that I could live<br />
<strong>for</strong> a thousand years, almost immortal. If<br />
I could press that button I would. What<br />
an incredible thing to live through all<br />
the centuries to come, trying not to lose<br />
one's head.<br />
In my work, I see things mostly in a primal<br />
way. I strip away the clothes, the flesh and<br />
The world is such a fast moving place,<br />
bombarded with imagery, things to buy;<br />
the eyes see, the brain computes and it<br />
filters into the heart and soul and all the<br />
<strong>human</strong> matter that becomes us. What do<br />
I need? What don’t I need? How much<br />
do I have? Always back to the material.<br />
So corruptible.<br />
I am struck when people’s struggles mean<br />
that they can no longer cope and they go<br />
on to end it all by taking their own lives. To<br />
go and never come back <strong>for</strong> all eternity;<br />
18
what a powerful thing it is to be gone like<br />
that. Leaving your little moment behind to<br />
a letter, a <strong>book</strong>, a movie, a photograph,<br />
a record, a child. But do we come back<br />
to re-live the existence again? Does the<br />
spirit and orb inherit new organic vessels?<br />
The Frankenstein shock moment.<br />
The head, a <strong>portrait</strong> in constant transition.<br />
I can remember as a child wearing my<br />
mothers make-up and glancing in to the<br />
mirror and seeing a little girl look back. A<br />
powerful thing that has stayed with me in<br />
to adult life, that we don’t have to be what<br />
we were born to be. It’s all there in the<br />
face; that primal thing. The first thing we<br />
make contact with in the street, the bar,<br />
the great rooms of silence. The head is<br />
a flower on a <strong>human</strong> stem that weathers<br />
the world in a field of chaos and chance.<br />
To be and to look; to experience. Filling<br />
the theatre of the mind, the great picture<br />
house of the head. A powerful thing we<br />
are. Romanticized and war torn. Walk with<br />
me now John (Constable), take the hand<br />
of a self-taught, take me in to the glittering<br />
rain soaked fields, to the canvases that<br />
became legend. Seeping their way in to<br />
the material world of faded prints under<br />
glass topped tables where as a child I first<br />
discovered you. The chaos and the calm<br />
come together in a marriage of paint. The<br />
internal reflected landscape that we all<br />
exist in. Always.<br />
Theo once said to Vincent, “you have found<br />
your way, dear Brother, your carriage is<br />
already nearing its destination and can<br />
stand up to a good many knocks”. This<br />
is a carriage that most of us ride upon<br />
within our lives. It is a stony road my work<br />
has had to travel. Not easy; thirty years of<br />
trying and exploring, almost every day in<br />
the studio. You can’t extinguish a fire that<br />
burns the sea.<br />
My work is deeply affected by the ongoing<br />
universal events that the world vomits out<br />
every day, and in to my head it slushes<br />
with my blood and beating heart. Then<br />
comes the need to find that moment in a<br />
work that hunts out the viewer and freezes<br />
them in a pure moment of emotion and<br />
touches like a poem scratched behind<br />
their eyes. The goring of a matador; a<br />
bull fighting back; things turned on their<br />
head. A country threatens another; we<br />
will wipe you of the face of the Earth.<br />
19
“You can't extinguish a fire that burns the sea”<br />
David Kim Whittaker<br />
A gorilla saves a boy and the keeper<br />
shoots the beast. Earth Voyager on its<br />
distant journey sending images back that<br />
show our planet as a tiny blue ball set<br />
like a jewel within the black. We know so<br />
much, but still so much to learn. Bacon<br />
said “life is meaningless but we give it<br />
meaning in our lifetime”. It’s a crazy thing,<br />
us in all our genius and folly.<br />
We look into a mirror and a face looks<br />
back. Two personas appear in the making<br />
of the work. At the start, the sensitive<br />
watchmaker's daughter begins, like a<br />
quiet insect secreting watery colour over<br />
the surface; a classical representation.<br />
Once complete she drifts away and from<br />
the corner comes the primal gimp like a<br />
predator hunting pray, looking to close the<br />
deal. He begins with all the dirty washes,<br />
ejaculations of oil, vascular smears at<br />
speed, violent, shaking the work on its<br />
easel, flicking and then <strong>for</strong> a moment,<br />
delicate, it prances like a dancing<br />
animal, watching, never distracted until it<br />
is completed.<br />
by hand by the woodman next door. I<br />
remember just wanting to be brutal with<br />
them and not worry about the outcome;<br />
just roar with my basic materials. As they<br />
came together I was pleased with the<br />
results and, as is the case, they developed<br />
in to a larger family. A metamorphosis<br />
takes place; tadpole to frog, caterpillar to<br />
butterfly, boy to girl, girl to boy, classical<br />
to modern and the heads, the painting,<br />
this push and pull, goes on. They want to<br />
be a timeless moment, they want to talk;<br />
sometimes a whisper, sometimes a shout,<br />
about events past and ongoing. Fleeting<br />
comments on our massive industrial<br />
species in theatre, as witnessed by the<br />
inner and the outer eye.<br />
When starting a body of new works last<br />
year I had six crude wooden panels cut<br />
This text is amalgamated from notes taken<br />
from David Kim Whittaker's studio, 2017.<br />
20
'I' IS A LANDSCAPE<br />
DAVID ROSENBERG<br />
The first time I met with David (I,<br />
myself, am called David), things moved<br />
surprisingly fast during our conversation.<br />
There were no barriers of any kind and<br />
we seemed to be able to easily discuss<br />
all and everything. David told me he was<br />
aware of some of his past-lives. He was<br />
also sensing and measuring the deep<br />
impact of several childhood memories,<br />
especially one. As a young boy, he used to<br />
kneel down and bend over a small coffee<br />
table covered by a glass under which one<br />
could find a reproduction of a classical<br />
English landscape. David was continually<br />
fascinated. He absorbed himself in the<br />
image, following with his fingers the lines<br />
and contours. Meanwhile a unique optic<br />
and psychological phenomenon occurred;<br />
he could see his own shadow reflected<br />
on the surface of the glass, but instead<br />
of perceiving his face as one would do<br />
in a mirror, the inside of his head was<br />
filled with the image of the landscape.<br />
Just take a look at his paintings and you’ll<br />
understand precisely how this works.<br />
Everything falls into place during one<br />
mundane and almost unnoticeable event.<br />
If you add to the equation the extreme<br />
sensitivity of the artist and his ability<br />
to deconstruct every image, including<br />
his own image, you can get a simple<br />
sense of where David’s artistic quest or<br />
journey originates.<br />
Through the mirror…<br />
Turmoil on the flat surface of the painting,<br />
inner and outer dimensions merge, as<br />
well as the landscape and <strong>portrait</strong> genre<br />
becoming one. Others and I meet and<br />
exchange momentary and definitive<br />
identities and / or viewpoints.<br />
We can recall the work of Lewis Carroll,<br />
Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian<br />
Gray', or John Constable and Thomas<br />
Gainsborough (just think of his 'Blue<br />
Boy' which the artist may have painted<br />
in response to the then absurd dogma<br />
which aimed at restricting the use of blue<br />
tones to the depiction of distant parts of<br />
the background landscape). There are<br />
also some remembrances of Frank<br />
Auerbach’s ‘impasto' and Francis Bacon’s<br />
(de)construction of space. In a nutshell<br />
David is a deep rooted, genuine British<br />
painter; living and working in his native<br />
24
Cornwall, a county which encompasses a<br />
long artistic and pictorial tradition, which<br />
David brilliantly takes to the next level.<br />
Serene and violent at the same time.<br />
David is also Kim. He now evokes freely<br />
what is described as 'gender dysphoria', an<br />
intense experience where one’s physical<br />
body does not match his or her deep<br />
identity. This might have brought extreme<br />
psychological tension or inner conflict,<br />
but inside David Kim, there is enough<br />
empathy, enough acceptance and space<br />
<strong>for</strong> contradictions to express and resolve<br />
themselves. Perhaps this is because:<br />
'I' is a landscape.<br />
David Rosenberg is a French curator<br />
and author specialising in modern and<br />
contemporary art. His work has explored<br />
relationships between art and diverse<br />
fields from contemporary dance, history<br />
of science and comic strips. Since 1989,<br />
he has curated exhibitions in collaboration<br />
with numerous international museums and<br />
art foundations.<br />
25
WORKS<br />
JOURNEYS OF HOPE & DESPAIR<br />
An exodus<br />
Sustain hope, seek salvation<br />
Searching <strong>for</strong> the road from Damascus moment
Portrait For Human Presence I<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
30
Portrait For Human Presence II<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
31
Portrait For Human Presence III<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
32
Portrait For Human Presence IV<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
33
Portrait For Human Presence V (Station Of Animal)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
34
Portrait For Human Presence VI (Asilanom)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
35
Portrait For Human Presence VII (The Displaced I)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
36
Portrait For Human Presence VIII (The Displaced II)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
37
Portrait For Human Presence IX (Dawn Of The Dying Cities)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
38
Portrait For Human Presence X (Young Epilogue)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
39
Portrait For Human Presence XI (Upon This Earth)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
40
Portrait For Human Presence XII (Maximum In Life Not Death)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
41
PERPETUAL SIN<br />
Mankind in conflict<br />
A primal urge to tear apart<br />
Power and greed cast long shadows<br />
Sacrificing the sacred<br />
Divinity is lost
Monomatherbeth<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
44
Stay Above<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
45
Under A Blue Hat<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
46
Force Majeure<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
47
48
The Lament<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 122 x 122 cm each (triptych)<br />
49
50
Hallucinating Soldier<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 122 x 122 cm each (triptych)<br />
51
52
The Great Grey Mothers I<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 122 x 122 cm each (triptych)<br />
53
54
The Great Grey Mothers II<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 120 x 120 cm each (triptych)<br />
55
RESTLESS SPIRIT<br />
History leaves traces that echo <strong>for</strong> an eternity
Priest Moving Towards<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 122 x 122 cm<br />
58
59
60
Priest In Preparation<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 122 x 122 cm<br />
61
Priest After Exorcism<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 122 x 122 cm<br />
62
63
64
Nexus Of Love X<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 152 x 152 cm<br />
65
Father X (Watching For Classical Sunlight / Notre-Dame)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 152 x 152 cm<br />
66
67
68
Ghost Impala<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 152 x 152 cm<br />
69
The Way<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 152 x 152 cm<br />
70
71
72
Fowlers in the Fields<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 152 x 152 cm<br />
73
Inherent Eroticism In All Trans<strong>for</strong>mations<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 152 x 152 cm<br />
74
75
Working Hard In The Golden Month, Provence (Male)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 122 x 122 cm<br />
76
Working Hard In The Golden Month, Provence (Female)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 122 x 122 cm<br />
77
TRANSCENDENT METAMORPHOSIS<br />
We will continue to evolve
An Under Beauty<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
80
Baboon<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
81
Born Figurine<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
82
Carriage Of A Turning Bull<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
83
The History That Shows Us Is The History That Grows Us<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
84
Gender Reversals<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
85
THE FEMININE OPPRESSED<br />
Boys and girls are not always born equal
Girls Of The Sierra Leone I<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
88
Girls Of The Sierra Leone II<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
89
Girls Of The Sierra Leone III<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
90
Girls Of The Sierra Leone IV<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
91
Hallucinating Girls From Africa I (Search In The Herds Of Life But It Is Within Your Heart )<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
92
Hallucinating Girls From Africa II (The Doses)<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
93
Hallucinating Girls From Africa III (Black Wings)<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
94
Hallucinating Girls From Africa IV (The Future Is Not Set)<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
95
TALES OF SOLITUDE<br />
Conversations overheard from distant tables<br />
Life alone in the city
The Man Portrait From Window (Kings Cross)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
98
Soho You Pretty Things (Study <strong>for</strong> Female Dancer, London)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
99
It's About Making Your Peace With The Existence (Alcoholic Talking To A Priest In A London Pub)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
100
Lucifer Landing (Young Male Dressing As A Girl For The First Time, London)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
101
The Endureth (Prisoner Of The Wilderness Visiting Paget Memorial Mission Hall, London)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
102
Recording The Silent At Their Hour (From Middlesex Hospital Chapel To London Zoo)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage and pencil on primed wood panel . 92 x 92 cm<br />
103
A BOYS SEARCH<br />
The grinding gears of the heavy locomotive<br />
Masculine echoes<br />
Not all sons follow the footsteps of their fathers
106
Boys In The Outskirts (Dressing The Passions)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 120 x 120 cm each (triptych)<br />
107
108
Boys In The Outskirts (Howlers Waltzers)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 120 x 120 cm each (triptych)<br />
109
FLEETING UTOPIAS<br />
The inner and the outer combine in rapture<br />
In this moment I am England<br />
I am home
To Compose England (Rydal Mount, Cumbria, Hume’s Warbler)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 152 x 152 cm<br />
112
113
114
Such Unquestioning Faith (Salisbury Cathedral, Robin)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 152 x 152 cm<br />
115
In The Splendour (Buckinghamshire, Lesser Redpoll)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 152 x 152 cm<br />
116
117
118
Crucifixion (Mapledurham)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 152 x 152 cm<br />
119
Crucifixion (Lancaster Canal)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 152 x 152 cm<br />
120
121
122
Crucifixion (Stourhead)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 152 x 152 cm<br />
123
Jewel Box (The Broads, A Young Girl in Reflection, Poetics Of The Past Never Forgotten)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 152 x 152 cm<br />
124
125
Soldier Be<strong>for</strong>e Combat Leave (Rotton Park Reservoir, Birmingham)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 80 x 80 cm<br />
126
Soldier After Combat, Back to England (River At Mayton Bridge)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 80 x 80 cm<br />
127
Soldier Ghost Dancing Back To Loved Ones<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 80 x 80 cm<br />
128
The Hassars I (Corfe Castle, Isle Of Purbeck, Dorset, England)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 80 x 80 cm<br />
129
The Hassars II (The Little Bridge, Crickheath, England)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 80 x 80 cm<br />
130
The Hassars III (Durham Cathedral, River Wear, England)<br />
oil and acrylic on canvas . 80 x 80 cm<br />
131
GENDER FLUX<br />
A drawn watermark beneath the surface<br />
Stencilling trinkets lost and discarded<br />
A weaving prayer<br />
A chemical flow of genders combined and moving together<br />
This is the universal
She Dreams The Night Be<strong>for</strong>e Surgery<br />
oil, acrylic, collage, china marker and pencil on primed panel . 80 x 80 cm<br />
134
Transexual Locomotives Of The Ape Cloth (Isambard Kingdom Brunel)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage, china marker and pencil on primed panel . 80 x 80 cm<br />
135
Boy Ascends<br />
oil, acrylic, collage, china marker and pencil on primed panel . 80 x 80 cm<br />
136
Fluffer Of Angel<br />
oil, acrylic, collage, china marker and pencil on primed panel . 80 x 80 cm<br />
137
Beauties Form The Beast Towards English Lanes And Fairground Rides In The Rain<br />
oil, acrylic, collage, china marker and pencil on primed panel . 80 x 80 cm<br />
138
Calling Towards The Mandrills<br />
oil, acrylic, collage, china marker and pencil on primed panel . 80 x 80 cm<br />
139
Distant Calls Of The Zoological Gardens (As I Gaze At You Through The Railings)<br />
oil, acrylic, collage, china marker and pencil on primed panel . 80 x 80 cm<br />
140
From The Grey Room<br />
oil, acrylic, collage, china marker and pencil on primed panel . 80 x 80 cm<br />
141
Rage Again My Love<br />
oil, acrylic, collage, china marker and pencil on primed panel . 80 x 80 cm<br />
142
Saddest Intro<br />
oil, acrylic, collage, china marker and pencil on primed panel . 80 x 80 cm<br />
143
CONVERSING WITH HEROES<br />
Across an imagined table we meet<br />
Sharing tea<br />
Sat under the canopy of natures great pavilion
From The Modern Pavilions (Mark Lawson)<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on canvas . 122 x 122 cm<br />
146
147
From The Modern Pavilions (Dr Lucy Worsley)<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on canvas . 122 x 122 cm<br />
148
From The Modern Pavilions (Dan Cruickshank)<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on canvas . 122 x 122 cm<br />
149
MEMORIALS TO THE FALLEN<br />
For the lost souls<br />
Move beyond your tragedy and ascend<br />
You are no longer alone
The Ascending I<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on canvas . 191 x 157 cm<br />
152
153
154
The Ascending II<br />
oil, acrylic and pencil on canvas . 191 x 157 cm<br />
155
BIOGRAPHY<br />
B. 1964<br />
David Kim Whittaker was born and lives in Cornwall, England<br />
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS<br />
2017 A Portrait <strong>for</strong> Human Presence:<br />
Fondazione Mudima, Milan, Italy<br />
In The Existence, Opera Gallery, Paris, France<br />
2015 Portrait <strong>for</strong> Human Presence, Anima-Mundi, St. Ives, England<br />
Glimpse, London, England<br />
2014 Nature of the Life Pavilions, Millennium, St Ives, England<br />
2012 A Bird In The Mammal House, Millennium, St Ives, England<br />
2011 A Beautiful Kind of Certainty, Millennium, St Ives, England<br />
2009 Brief Moment In The Exposure, Millennium, St Ives, England<br />
2008 If This Life, Goldfish, Penzance, England<br />
2001 Gallery Excalibur, Stresa, Italy<br />
2000 Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall, England<br />
1992 Hyde Park Gallery, London, England<br />
2011 The Lock Up 2, Red Bull Studios, London,England<br />
2010 The House of Fairy Tales, Millennium, St. Ives, England<br />
2009 The Lock Up, Eastcastle House, London, England<br />
Mixed, Millennium & Goldfish, Cornwall, England<br />
NSA at Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, England<br />
2008 Mixed / No Theme, Goldfish, Penzance, England<br />
2007 Goldfish, Penzance, England<br />
Move, Goldfish at Vyner Street, London, England<br />
2005 RA Summer Exhibition, Piccadilly, London, England<br />
2004 The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London, England<br />
2003 Debut, Gallery One O Two, London, England<br />
St. Ives Festival, The Mariners Gallery, St. Ives, England<br />
2002 Show <strong>for</strong> Reuters, Britart, Brick Lane, London, England<br />
2000 One Foot Two Show, Mafuji Gallery, London, England<br />
1999 Summer Show, Wimbledon Art Group, London, England<br />
Raw Art, London, England<br />
New Millennium Gallery, St. Ives, England<br />
1998 Highgate Fine Art, London, Endland<br />
1994 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, Cali<strong>for</strong>nia, USA<br />
1993 Salthouse Gallery, St. Ives, England<br />
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS<br />
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS<br />
2016 Opera Gallery, Worldwide<br />
From Silence, Herrick Gallery, Mayfair, London, England<br />
2015 Anima-Mundi, St. Ives, England<br />
The Lock Up, London, England<br />
ART15, Olympia Grand, London, England<br />
2014 Suspended Sentences, Turners Warehouse, Newlyn, England<br />
I, Truro Festival, England<br />
ART14, Olympia Grand, London, England<br />
Millennium, St Ives, England<br />
2013 Artists Make Faces, Plymouth City Art Gallery, England:<br />
(Curated by Monica Kinley OBE)<br />
Millennium, St. Ives, England<br />
The Lock Up 3, The Ivy, London, England<br />
2012 Millennium, St Ives, England<br />
2011 The National Open (Major First Prize Winner):<br />
Pallant House, Chichester, England<br />
The Discerning Eye (invited artist), Mall Galleries, London, England<br />
Millennium, St Ives, England<br />
2017 A Portrait <strong>for</strong> Human Presence (Fondazione Mudima)<br />
In the Existence (Opera Gallery)<br />
2014 Nature of the Life Pavilions (Millennium)<br />
2012 Bird In The Mammal House (Millennium)<br />
2011 A Beautiful Kind of Certainty (Millennium)<br />
2009 Brief Moment In The Exposure (Millennium)<br />
2008 If This Life (Goldfish)<br />
2007 Move (Goldfish)<br />
2006 Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945, David Buckman<br />
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS<br />
Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall, England<br />
Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery, Devon, England<br />
Represented by Opera Gallery, Worldwide<br />
158
DAVID KIM WHITTAKER<br />
A PORTRAIT FOR HUMAN PRESENCE