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Art Show: Skidmore Contemporary Art Presents, David Ashwell

Date/Time
Date(s) - Sat. Jan 21, 2017
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

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Location
Bergamot Station

Categories

• Art
• Charity event

Skidmore Contemporary Art Presents

 David Ashwell

 One gallery – two exhibitions:

A Different Point of View
&
Yesterday’s Children 

 Jan 21 – Feb 25, 2017

 Reception for the artist
Saturday, January 21
4 – 6pm

This ambitious six year project consists of portraits of well known and/or successful people painted from their childhood photographs. It began in 2010, when Ashwell asked a few old friends from London to send him childhood photographs. He made paintings based on the photos, to see if he could find any clues in their body language or facial expressions that might point to their success in adult life.  He felt that a painting made from a photograph might be more revealing than its original. The resulting paintings brought their distant childhoods back to life. And gave the artist an idea for a new series.

Participants range from Nancy Pelosi to Barbra Streisand and Ridley Scott to Sting. The artist painted from all kinds of reference material: old sepia prints, out of focus holiday snaps, high school yearbook photos, team photos, hand tinted studio portraits, photo booth contact sheets – mostly monochrome but all brimming with life.

About the project, David says: “It not only reminds us we were all children once, it raises our awareness of children who are desperately in need today.”

Save the Children seemed like an obvious charity to support with the project.  All proceeds from sales will go to them.

Born in Britain, David Ashwell studied graphic design at Kingston College of Art. After working for 5 years as an advertising art director, in 1971 he began a new career as a director of television commercials.  For the next 30 years, he created more than 800 commercials in over 30 countries.  He has won awards in every major advertising competition in both the US and Europe.  In 2001, he gave up directing to become a full time painter, focusing mostly on Malibu landscapes.  He was discovered by gallerist Lia Skidmore who gave him first professional art exhibition at Skidmore Contemporary Art in 2000.  Since then, Ashwell has had 5 one-person shows with the gallery.

This is his 6th exhibition at Skidmore Contemporary Art.

PHOTOS