The Four Seasons: Winter

Ian Davenport (b. 1966) is a London-based artist who is best known for his abstract color compositions and paintings with elegant dripping lines of color. Davenport studied at Goldsmiths College alongside Damien Hirst, Gary Hume and Sarah Lucas, and participated in Hirst’s 1988 ‘Freeze’ exhibition of artists who would later become loosely known at the YBA’s (Young British Artists). Davenport’s colorful etching with chine collé is a great example of his signature technique of creating vertical cascading lines that end at the bottom of the support in rich puddles of color. In his paintings, he applies the paint with a syringe and allows it to run down and pool, introducing elements of control and chance, and letting gravity and weight to play a part in the outcome of his work. This element of his practice pays homage to color field painters like Morris Louis. Davenport has also experimented with other everyday tools to apply paint, such as watering cans, electric fans and nails. His work is held in important museum collections worldwide, including the Tate, London, Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Centre Pompidou, Paris.