David Storey

Threadneedle Prize finalist David Storey is a British figurative painter whose work is exhibited extensively in the UK and abroad. His psychologically charged paintings are an exploration of memory, with half-remembered people and places emerging from complex layers of texture and colour. He is represented by the following galleries:

Panter and Hall, London

Cameron Contemporary, Brighton

Castlegate House Gallery, Cumbria

Saul Hay Fine Art, Manchester

David says, ‘An idea can come from anywhere: TV, books, the internet etc. I then embark on a process of unlocking the idea through a series of sketches and experiments. This journey of development and discovery can take anything from 5 days to 5 years until a kind of alchemy takes place and things seem to harmonise of their own accord in a way that can be very rewarding.

I paint in an expressionistic way using rags and sponges because the physical marks and textures are a fundamental element of what I am trying to achieve. The challenge for me though is to retain an economy of execution – an effortless effort.

Richard Unwin writing about David’s work:
“Sharing in their fragility, the characters Storey depicts are aware they stand on the edge, but they are aware too that we who look on them are also fragile. The blurred faces gaze out as if to ask if we who exist now have forgotten those who went before and if we believe our experiences today are really unique; the couples trapped in tension stand as a mirror to all relationships, while the most haunting characters come as associates of Ebenezer’s ghosts, ready to awaken us to who we truly are.”