Burlesque in which we've thrown it on its head. The artist's work features historical and popular cultural characters that meets animated gargoyles and mournful mythological creatures.
Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art is delighted to present a solo exhibition
dedicated to the work of emerging British artist Nathan Cash Davidson, comprising some
twenty paintings dating from 2004 to the present.
An artist and lyricist with a uniquely compelling visual language, Cash Davidson’s
paintings feature such diverse figures as King Henry VIII, Mr. Punch, George Bush and Ali G.
Historical and popular cultural characters and the artist’s own family members meet
animated gargoyles and mournful mythological creatures in otherworldly forests,
cathedrals, desert islands and council estates; boldly rendered in vital, swirling jewel
colours.
Burlesque in which we've thrown it on its head is an encounter with Cash Davidson’s
prodigious talent for figuration and architectural detail, and his wry and irreverent wit.
These accomplished and confident works evoke a rich interior landscape whilst also
offering an often bleak and discomfiting perspective of the contemporary metropolis.
Cash Davidson’s writing – ‘...Armoured objects selected never last / faster / than the star/
Reflect the future and the past in one’ – echoes his preoccupation with leveling history,
mythology and the 21st century. The organic narrative development of his imagery is also
reflected in his use of the written and spoken word: plants unfurl; buildings spring up and
sprawl out; figures appear. Of his poetic visual treatment of his urban surroundings, Cash
Davidson has been said to possess ‘the potential to return the power of myth to "things
drawn on walls".
Nathan Cash Davidson was born in London in 1988 and studied Painting at Wimbledon
School of Art. Aged 22, he will be the youngest artist to exhibit at Parasol unit. Cash
Davidson’s paintings have been shown in group exhibitions at Chelsea Space and the
Mitchell Library, Glasgow; his first solo show, To Complete My Education, took place at
Hannah Barry Gallery, London in 2008. Cash Davidson writes and performs his own raps,
and in 2009 took part in the Serpentine Gallery’s Poetry Marathon.
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication edited by Ziba Ardalan, Director / Curator of
Parasol unit and distributed internationally by Koenig Books.
Opening with private view Tuesday 7 December, 6.30 – 9pm
Parasol Unit
14 Wharf Road, London
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–6 pm; Sunday, 12–5 pm
Admission free