David Harrison
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About
David Harrison’s paintings, drawings and sculptures present a world where the natural and supernatural go hand in hand. Harrison's works expand the languages of contemporary painting and sculpture, drawing into play parts of the culture which are often forgotten, buried, discarded or disregarded. The artist employs all that has lain outside of the mainstream of modern art – age-old symbols and fanciful myth, irrational beliefs, traditional genres like landscape, exuberant sexuality, barbed wit, and wonder at the natural world – in order to speak vividly about our own time, and to revivify the disciplines of painting and sculpture.
Harrison’s paintings give shape to a complete imaginative universe akin to those of earlier Romantic visionaries, ripe with references to the natural world and populated by a cast of animals and figures drawn from myths, legends, modern-day politics and from his own biography. While human presence is often revealed to be ignorant, frivolous or destructive, animal and plant life represents good sense and eternal knowledge.
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Biography
Born in 1954, David Harrison lives and works in London. Harrison's works have been exhibited at venues including Southwark Park Galleries, London, UK (2019); Royal Academy of Art, London, UK (2019); Lungley Gallery, London, UK (2018); Churchgate Gallery, Somerset, UK (2017); Sargent's Daughters, New York, USA (2016), TRAMPS, London, UK (2017, 2014); VeneKlasen/Werner, Berlin, Germany (2012); Vilma Gold, London, UK (2012, 2003); Daniel Reich Gallery, New York, USA (2008); Galeria OMR, Mexico City (2007); the Arts Centre St. Petersburg, Florida (2005); Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, UK (2005); The Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2006, 2004); Whitechapel Project Space, London, UK (2004, 2003); Bloomberg Space, London, UK (2004), and Cubitt Gallery, London, UK (2001).
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News
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David Harrison features in Common Ground at The Wilson, Cheltenham
February 21, 2025Curated by painter and folklorist Ben Edge, the exhibition (on view until 31 August 2025) invites visitors to explore stories of change, loss, rebellion, and...Read More -
David Harrison features in Dog Show at Thames-Side Studios Gallery
March 17, 2023'In almost every culture, dogs have been drawn, painted and sculpted since the dawn of history, often symbolising: companionship, loyalty, fidelity, protection, devotion and love.'...Read More -
Paintings by David Harrison are included in Dog Show at Southwark Park Galleries
June 18, 2019An exhibition (18 July–8 September 2019) of dog-related artworks by David Harrison, Joan Jonas, Martin Creed, Lucian Freud, William Wegman, David Shrigley and others. Read...Read More -
Dancing Goddesses, featuring David Harrison, at Dio Horia, Mykonos
May 21, 2018May 27 - July 20 Participating artists: Carlos Betancourt | Katherine Bradford | Sam Friedman | Hulda Guzman | David Harrison | Nir Hod |...Read More -
David Harrison curates The Lore of the Land at Churchgate Gallery, Porlock
April 12, 2018The exhibition (30 April – 30 May 2018) brings together artists including Anne Ryan, Abigail Lane, Peter Doig, Ross Taylor and Nicky Hoberman, who have...Read More -
David Harrison in Sawdust and Sequins: The Art of the Circus
March 24, 2018The exhibition (24 March – 3 June 2018) at the Royal West of England Academy also features work by Sir Peter Blake, Abigail Lane and...Read More -
David Harrison in Frivolous Convulsions at Turf Projects, Croydon
January 12, 2018Frivolous Convulsions is an exhibition (12 January – 25 February 2018) which collides carnivalesque and celebratory renditions of modern life. Aliki Krikidi // Babette Semmer...Read More -
David Harrison: Photographs at Tramps
April 3, 2017David Harrison Photographs 7 April - 27 May 2017 Opening Reception April 6, 7 - 9pm TRAMPS 15f Micawber Street London N1 7TB Read moreRead More -
David Harrison in People at The Beaumont Gallery, Mere
October 22, 2016An exhibition of Contemporary Portraiture by nine artists October 22nd - November 6th Tuesday - Sunday 10am-4pm The Beaumont Gallery in Mere hosts People ,...Read More -
David Harrison: Nightshift at Sargent's Daughters, New York
August 31, 201616 September - 30 October Sargent’s Daughters is pleased to present Nightshift , an exhibition of paintings by English artist David Harrison. The exhibition will...Read More -
How we met: David Harrison & Lucinda Lambton in The Independent
November 29, 2015David Harrison & Lucinda Lambton: 'She came to my council flat and I nearly killed her with a leopard-skin sofa'. By Adam Jacques. The duo...Read More -
David Harrison interviewed in Time Out
November 11, 2015David Harrison: 'I wonder where the ghosts are going to live in the future'. By Martin Coomer. Fairies, spookiness, sex and nature, sex in nature…...Read More
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Gallery Exhibitions
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House Work
25 Jan – 18 Mar 2017 Victoria Miro MayfairIncluding Mamma Andersson, Jules de Balincourt, Hernan Bas, Marc Chagall, Peter Doig, Adrian Ghenie, David Harrison, Karen Kilimnik, John Kørner, LS Lowry, Alice Neel, Celia Paul, Grayson Perry, Tal R,...Learn More -
David Harrison: Flowers of Evil
14 Nov – 18 Dec 2015 London Gallery IIn David Harrison’s third solo show with the gallery, a selection of new work presents a densely populated and fully realised universe, where the supernatural pull of the natural world...Learn More -
In the Company of Alice
22 Jun – 30 Jul 2010 London Gallery I'If you do not solve your painting problem in painting human beings, you do not solve it at all'. Gertrude Stein Hernan Bas, John Currin, Verne Dawson, Peter Doig, Marlene...Learn More -
David Harrison: Existence
3 – 26 Sep 2009 London Gallery IDavid Harrison's paintings, sculptures and collages make strange our relationship to the natural world. Harrison makes use of a multitude of materials and techniques, whether they be found materials or...Learn More -
David Harrison
23 Mar – 23 Apr 2005 London Gallery IDavid Harrison is an artist attracted to the day-to-day oddities that are often overlooked by most people. His paintings are populated by fantastical characters and wildlife placed in eerie, otherworldly...Learn More
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Contact Form
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