Information
Birmingham born artist David Collier has been producing work in the city since the late 80s, while his work has gone largely unnoticed. This is by no means an attempt by the artist to remain wilfully obscure but quite the opposite.
However, attempts to get work shown in Birmingham have to date largely proven unsuccessful, as have attempts to show work outside of the city.
Creating works out of setbacks has been a good source for new material, as in Landscape of a Modern Artist, highlighting the reality that most artists will never make any kind of living from their work.
This brings into question why there's such a lack of access and opportunity for unknown artists to get their work shown. This is played out here in Silent Manifestos where the voice of the Artist may as well be redacted.
Telling stories or conveying a message also comes up here in a Documentation of a Failed attempt at Communication where the artist's dyslexia and his frustrations with the written word often descends into a messy scrawl across a page in an attempt to communicate what it is on his mind.
Redirected Mail was an experiment, sending large folded sheets of paper through the post from one address to another, often using a redirected mail service he had in place at the time, getting them marked, stamped and added to on the way. It came at a time when the artist was shifting around several different addresses, the idea was that some kind of record would be kept through this time in these works.
There's a great tradition of artists making good from what society discards, and there's not much more throwaway than a brown paper envelope. In a digital age of instant messaging and photo sharing apps, what was once a workhorse of the postal service is now much in decline, but they still appear every now and then though our letter boxes, so for an artist whose work is seldom seen it may as well appear on the back of a brown paper envelope.
Into The Blue, The Hospital Paintings
Due to health issues the artist described this work as the blue planet and me heading straight to A&E.
Lines of Communication.
Lines of Communication are the scrawled writings of a vulnerable person shielding in a telephone box during the COVID pandemic lockdown of 2020 -
Exhibitions
Second City Drop Box
In collaboration with Nospaceartgallery
Date 2022
Second City Drop Box Part II
Nospaceartgallery
Date 2023
Cardboard Gold Series
Date 2023/2024
@nospaceartgallery
2010 – long term display
Postcard to Myself, My RSC Gallery (public winners) Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford-
https://www.rsc.org.uk/exhibitions/my-
2010
A Documentation of a Failed Attempt at Communication (solo show) The Public West Bromwich.
1999
Hidden Agenda, Group show, Ikon Gallery ,(John Bright st site) Birmingham.
1998
Coming Around, Central collective, Roundhouse Gallery, Birmingham.
1992
Walsall Open, The Garage Arts and Media Centre, Walsall.
1990
3rd Open Art Exhibition, The Clock Tower Centre, Harborne, Birmingham
Also worked on Harry Potter 2000 -
Amongst other things
Details to follow.
Awards
2008
Arts Council England
Qualifications
1994 – 1997
BA Art & Design, UCE Birmingham.
1992 – 1993
B-
contact
David Collier
Email dkc1234uk@yahoo.co.uk