David Cheeseman

“Cheeseman’s work makes visible fleeting visions and stabilises them in sculptural forms and installations. He captures the nebulous giving it presence, whilst still managing to retain a lightness, developed through carefully considered material handling. Cheeseman’s conjuring of auratic artworks, makes us feel as if we were seeing something that should not exist in the world. It is this facility expressed through his work which makes his oeuvre so compelling and of great interest to contemporary sculptural and arts practice today.”
Mona Casey, Artist & Curator

“I work predominately with ‘stuff.’ Physical materiality is more important to me than image and the work emerges as a playful response to my fascination with process, and the methodologies and philosophies of science and magic.”

David Cheeseman’s practice had a philosophical underpinning that considered process rather than substance to be the fundamental constituent of the world. Working mainly with sculpture, installation and photography, Cheeseman’s initial point of departure was dialogical; a staged conversation between two frames of reference – a stepping stone in the process of analysing and constructing a speculative visual proposition. Glass as a material was the most prominent, consistent and important ‘stuff’ he worked with: “I spent most of my time as a sculpture student at the RCA working in the glass dept. Not only am I interested in its formal qualities, but its significance within the history of science — as an extension of our own ‘fleshy empiricism’.” 

“David often used the magical/scientific structural and optical properties of transparent blown and cast glasses to activate and levitate specific objects within space. This approach seemed to defy the substance of materials and their gravitational pull allowing us to suspend our disbelief. For me, this aspect of his work seems to exemplify David’s approach: to make complex theoretical and scientific ideas combine effortlessly with the stuff of life.”
Annie Catterell, Artist

David Cheeseman was awarded the Gulbenkian Rome Scholarship in Sculpture and The Henry Moore Fellow in Sculpture at Coventry University. In 2015, he completed a residency at The Lydney Park Estate in association with Matts Gallery London and also presented a Fig.2 at the ICA in collaboration with Ole Hagan and astrophysicist Roberto Trotta.

David Cheeseman died in September 2018

Education

1986 – 88 The Royal College of Art. M.A Fine Art (Sculpture)
1980 – 83 Maidstone College of Art & Design. B.A 1st class Fine Art (Painting)
1978 – 79 Ravensbourne college of Art & Design. Foundation course

Exhibitions
2019
Coventry Biennial of Contemporary Art 2019
Drawn Breath (solo), Tintype, London
Once ever After: Thrice Removed, (solo)Domobaal Gallery, London

2016
Slime Mould Logic, Tintype, London

2015
Fig 2 With Roberto Trotta and Ole Hagen: The studio, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Blackrock, Lydney Park Estate, Gloucestershire

2014
Once ever After: twice removed Installation, Birmingham City University
Vanishing in Plain Sight, a performance with Grace Williams
Twice Upon a Time: Magic, Alchemy and the Transubstantiation of the Senses Birmingham City University

2013
Before it breaks Article Gallery, Birmingham

2012
In the Garden there is a Gardener that works night and day. His name is Death, Nymans House and Garden, Sussex
Space for Mind/Space for Art Ancient treasure of Tibetan Buddhism and contemporary responses The Spring Project, 100 Vauxhall Walk, London (British Council)
The Changing Room, The Museum of Objects, Midland Arts Centre

2009
Skit Performance ‘What do artists do?’ Symposium, Mead Gallery, Warwick University
Stand , Villa La Tourelle, Ostend

2008
Analogue, Domobaal Gallery, London (2 person show)

2006
On the other hand, Gloucester Cathedral (solo)

2005
Wherever you go there you are, Guildhall Arts centre, Gloucester (solo)
All at Once, Together, At the same time, Colony Birmingham
Scintilla, The Crypt, Gloucester Cathedral (solo)
There is no more butter, Station, Bristol

2004
Magic within Reason, Domobaal Gallery, London

2003
There There, R.B.S. Gallery, London (2 person show)

2001-3
Multiplication A British Council Touring Exhibition*
National Museum of Art Romania, Muzeul de Arte Brasov
Muzeul Brukenthal Sibiu. Palaca Sponza, Dubronnick Croatia
Galerija Umjetnina, Split. Galerija Umjetnina, Narodnog
Muzeul, Zadar. Muzeja Suvremene Umjetnosti Croatia
Awagarda Gallery, Wroclaw Poland. Art Pavilion, Belgrade Yugoslavia
Podgorica Yogoslavia. Husova Street Gallery, Czech Museum of Fine Art
Tablin Town Hall, Estonia KIBLA Centre Maribor, Slovenia
Contemporary Arts Gallery, Celje. Mestna Gallery Ljubljana, Slovenia
Municipal Arts Centre, Nicosia, Cyprus

2001
Solid State Kettles Yard, Cambridge*
Contemporary Sculpture, New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham

2000
Strain Camden Multiples, Camden Arts Centre, London
Art Futures, The Royal Festival Hall, London

1999
Dumbfounded Battersea Arts Centre, London*

1998
The Wherewithal, The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds (solo)
Not Nothing Nowhere, The Old Shipwright’s Palace, London
The Ugly Edge Conference, The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds

1997
Pictura Brittanica, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney;* Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; City Gallery, Wellington
Home Margaret Harvey Gallery, St Albans
Light, Richard Salmon Gallery, London
Within these Walls, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge*
Houseworks, Underwood Gallery, London
Craft Richard Salmon Gallery, London; Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge*; Vardy Gallery, Sunderland; Aberystwyth Art Gallery

1996
The Luxury of Sorrow:Natural Habitat No1, Lanchester Gallery, Coventry University* (solo)
New Work, Richard Salmon Gallery, London* (solo)
Between Patients, Swan Yard, London
Porto Art Exchange, Porto, Portugal

1994
Divers Memories, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

1993
New Absraction, Atrium Gallery, Coopers & Lybrand, London

1992
The Brick Lane Open 1, Heritage Centre, London

1991
Recent Work, Coexistance Art, London (solo)

1990
Rome Scholars 1980-90’ Royal College of Art, London*
*Denotes catalogue

Scholarships, Fellowships and Residencies
2015
Blackrock Residency program, Lydney Park Estate, Gloucestershire and Matts Gallery, London
2005- 06
Artist in Residence Gloucester Cathedral
1995- 96
Fellow in Sculpture (Henry Moore Foundation funded) University of Coventry, Fine Art Department
1988- 89
The Gulbenkian Rome Scholar in Sculpture, The British School in Rome
1987 -88
Rijks Akademie, Amsterdam

Public Commissions
1998
Lung, Permanent site specific installation at The Ark, Seagram Building, London
1997
Lead Artist – Redevelopment of The Cultural Quarter, Warrington

Awards
1994
London Arts Board Grant
1991
Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Award