David Harrison

Over the course of the last twenty-five years, David Harrison has created a body of work unique in contemporary British art that is characterized by wit, a playful love of contradiction, and quiet erudition. Working in two and three dimensions, the artist's paintings, sculptures, and collages transform the natural and man-made worlds into mythical settings in which alarming, magical, and incongruous narratives unfold. Indeed, Harrison's works collectively give shape to an idiosyncratic mythology in which every aspect of the modern world plays its part. It is, however, for his representations and re-creations of the natural world that he has become best known: in his work nature is an endless source of wisdom and fecundity, although it is never quite one of safety, harmony, or consolation. His canvases transform his own biography and experiences into fiction, whilst interweaving references from the history of art, popular culture, architectural history, and the mythology of English landscape. The book includes a foreword by broadcaster and architectural historian Lucinda Lambton, an interview with the artist conducted by his contemporary Peter Doig, and a study of his motifs and methods by curator Alistair Robinson.