SELECTED WORKS BY Enrico David
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Enrico David
Agent
2000
wool on dyed canvas
269 x 254 cm |
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Enrico David’s embroideries create a camp theatricality; his figures emerge as staged constructions, paralleling outward appearance with inner fantasy. In Agent, David’s crouching figure is set in monotone against blended grey ground, creating the inside-out suggestion of photographic negative. Within the red trimmed contours, an image of a warrior appears, reminiscent of Japanese woodcuts. Heavily stitched with thick wool, Agent’s burly soft texture both highlights and undermines the perception of strength and masculinity, portraying a dandy of heroic proportions. |
Enrico David
Cora
1999
acrylic thread, acrylic mohair & mixed fibre on dyed canvas
280 x 250 cm |
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Enrico David’s stylised figures draw upon the carnival-esque, their elaborate costumed appearance both celebrates and closets their identity. Set a la Bond girl against a sumptuous candyfloss pink ground, Cora presents a naughty intrigue associated with a more romantic and innocent time. Through both his subject and media, David confronts the boundaries of gender expectation: rendered through the traditional women’s art of needlework, Cora’s body is suspiciously asexual, ‘her’ butterfly head spanning in demure reference to female genitalia. |
Enrico David
Stick of Rock
1999
wool on dyed canvas
300 x 240 cm |
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Enrico David’s large-scale canvases explore personal identity within the public domain. Dealing with issues of queer politics, David appropriates elements from modernist design and contemporary culture to develop an intimate platform of fantasy and revelation. Created in embroidery on tie-dyed fabric, Stick of Rock presents a quirky sexuality based equally in high fashion, subculture, and home craft. Dressed in a Pucci-esque catsuit, David’s svelte poseur is both exhibitionist and stealth-like. His sleek figure is transformed by its woollen texture, drawing peculiar and humorous reference to S&M, bondage, and role-play with its seductively cuddly material. |
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ARTIST INFORMATION
OTHER RESOURCES
artfacts.net
Additional Information on Enrico David
showstudio.com - Enrico David; ‘The Devil Hates Good Art’ by Christabel Stewart
'The fifth planet was very strange. It was the smallest of them all. There was just enough room on it for a street lamp and a lamplighter. The little prince was not able to reach any explanation of the use of the lamplighter, somewhere in the heavens, on a planet which had no people, and not one house.'
showstudio.com - Enrico David – Biography
Italian born Enrico David came to London to study fine art at St Martin's in the early 1990s and has lived and worked here ever since. His early practice was sculpture based, but he became prominent for his two dimensional works on canvas. David has used techniques and material rooted in craft associations, such as embroidery and wool, but the scale and subject matter of his work clearly references painting traditions.
tate.org.uk - Enrico David – Art Now by Catherine Wood
‘Drawing is the starting point for most of my work, from the rendering of a photographic image to a more intuitive, spontaneous approach. I often borrow from traditional craft techniques and design styles, using their pre-given rules and functional potential in an attempt to organize and give structure to the often chaotic nature of my emotional response to reality.
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