Custot Gallery Dubai is delighted to present Signal, the second solo show of British contemporary artist Ian Davenport at the gallery. A selection of 12 new works plunges the viewer in an adventure across colours. Hundreds of vibrant hues and nuances form these studies of expressive colour interactions.

Signal is the first exhibition that Ian Davenport has dedicated to his works on paper. Whilst many of Davenport’s works usually feature lines of colour poured sequentially from left to right or vice versa, these works provide something more percussive and compositionally spontaneous. When lockdown restrictions were introduced in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, Davenport realised that this would be the perfect opportunity to focus on a different series of works which allowed for his practice to be in done isolated in his London studio. His paintings ordinarily require the help of studio technicians, however the works on paper were lighter, enabling him to maneuver them easily on his own.

Davenport was inspired by the visuals that pyrotechnics can provide, with amazing rocket fireworks, explosives and illuminations. Derived from these forms, the artist developed a way of dramatically replicating the firework marks in acrylic paint. Relationships of colours were then developed and explored with some of the artworks showing multiple layers of reworking. The finished pieces have splinters and traces of colour the interspersed with the large splats of paint.