Requiem Opus 5 400cm x 200cm
Contemporary Artist in East Sussex
An artist with 50 years of experience and an international reputation
David Armitage is a contemporary artist in east Sussex with a talent for evoking the human condition through the use of colour. His works have been showcased in exhibitions around the world, while his classic children's books written by his wife Ronda remain in circulation 45 years after their release. David's style has shifted and evolved over his 50-year career, owing to David's bold experimentation and endless practice.
You can find a gallery of his latest and most striking words on our gallery page.
“Subjects range from shrines and prayer flags to medieval illuminations, ethnic art to music and on to much darker, more equivocal images.”
– Eric Buesnel, writer and critic
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A creative process 50 years in the making
David's style is a constantly-evolving entity. Having been described as ‘one of the UK's leading colourists', David takes after the Abstract Expressionists of old in his inspirations and subject matter. Life, death, passion and tragedy are all here, glowing through the washes or struct across ambiguous backgrounds in fervent brush strokes of searing colour. Diverse countries and cultures appear either in subject or figurative form, or as an abstract expression simply in his use of suggestive colours and marks which evoke the feeling of a certain place or subject.
Burnt reds, cadmium yellows and azure blues are utilised to evoke the baked Australian landscape, raise the ghosts of victims of abuse and torture, portray numinous shrines or prayer flags, or affect with the depth and complexity of musical composition. Visit our gallery to browse David's latest paintings and a sample portfolio of his work as a contemporary artist in East Sussex.
For questions or to enquire about a purchase, please reach out to us via our contact form.
Exploration and Inspiration
As a contemporary artist in East Sussex, David has several bodies or series of works including Victims, Shrines, Puppets and Masks as well as large-scale abstract wall art canvases. These themes continue to develop and recur as dreams do, iterating and playing within the artist's subconscious mind.
Places of pilgrimage and worship negated of their initial religious serve as powerful sources of inspiration.
The viewer will notice that other spiritual places and iconographies appear, from a range of mythologies and religious traditions.
The interplay of colour and music
David's fascination for the spiritual, tribal and mythical goes beyond obvious motifs – memento mori, shrines and tribal art – to include intensely emotional places and the intangible and complex beauty of a musical composition.
David's work is also informed by a passion for classical music, particularly the work of Brucknet, Wagner and Sibelius – Powerful yet disquieting, hinting at something brooding just below the surface or out of reach. As Pater said “all art aspires to the condition of music.”
You can see these sweeping themes and motifs condensed into abstract colour and sweeping strokes at David's gallery. Many of the more recent pieces he has painted as a contemporary artist in East Sussex are for sale.
Schubert's Winterreise
David's work as a children's book illustrator is well-known, the oldest such being the now-classic series of Lighthouse Keeper stories, which is still in print and read 45 years on.
He would go on to illustrate 'Queen of the Night', which was subsequently nominated for the Kate Greenaway award. The style he evolved for this had not developed because of the lack of a suitable text, a state of affairs that persisted until he discovered Schubert's wonderful Winterreise as a source for a book of watercolour illustrations illuminating this astonishing music.
Enlarged back projected versions of these images often accompany live performances of this music.
If you are interested in buying a physical copy directly from the artist, please reach out via our contact form. You will receive a response with further details.
Price £8.00 plus P&P
ISBN: 978-1-5262-0322-9
Published by LKL Publishing.
Please reach out via our contact form for any questions or to enquire about purchasing some of David's art.
For an insight into David's creative process as a contemporary artist in East Sussex, his mentality when he paints and his thoughts on the world at large, please take a look at his blog.
Phone
01825 873 477
David Armitage