Waddington Custot presents ‘Reflections’, a survey exhibition that celebrates the remarkable breadth of Ian Davenport’s (b. 1966) career. Spanning the late 1980s to the present, the paintings and drawings include early experimental pieces made right after Davenport graduated from Goldsmiths college, alongside the Puddle Paintings for which he is best known. ‘Reflections’ marks Davenport’s 11th solo exhibition with the gallery since his debut show in 1990.
The exhibition opens with the early, monumental work ‘Untitled (Large White)’ (1991). This canvas, measuring over 6 metres wide, formed part of the work that earned Davenport’s nomination for the Turner Prize that year, making him the youngest artist ever shortlisted. The impact of ‘Untitled (Large White)’ is articulated in the 1991 Turner Prize catalogue: ‘tempered by strict systemisation, the luxuriant surfeit of paint, which is sometimes almost sculptural in effect, nevertheless achieves a sensuousness that belies Davenport’s deliberately anti-aesthetic, almost dumbly direct surface.’ As early as the 1980s, Davenport was developing his unconventional, process-led approach to painting.