David Rae
Degree: BA Painting
University: Gray's School of Art
Graduation Year: 2017
New Blood Art Commentary
Notable Achievements 2023
Shortlisted for Scottish Landscape Awards 2023 & Gilchrist-Fisher Award 2024.
Notable Achievements 2021
Selected for 2018 RSA New Contemporaries, 2023 RSA Annual Exhibition, shortlisted for the Scottish Landscape Awards 2023 and shortlisted for Gilchrist-Fisher Award 2024 - David Rae is part of a growing interest in the possibility of unspoken narratives through the use of realism and subtraction. Rae’s paintings offer a remarkable sense of space through the realistic rendition of textures and perspective and behind this curtain of reality the figureless, empty spaces suggest an uneasy absence. The resulting imagery has connotations of an unfinished story or a hidden truth, a simple device to incite curiosity. This tension between presence and absence is evocative of the empty spaces painted by Turner Prize winner, George Shaw. Famous for his portrayal of the built environment, Shaw shows the dislocated beauty of the urban versus natural world and similarly, Rae’s work suggestively imitates the beauty of human and natural environments while maintaining a perspicuous stillness which is both disquieting and analytical.
Artist Statement
The locations forming the basis for my work are mainly those that featured in my childhood, places I've visited or those that are re-imagined. Capturing a sense of place is an important aspect to each piece; alluding to an atmosphere in which I explore the presence of absence. The objects that populate each space suggest human interaction and are based on my wider interests, sport being a prime example. Within the paintings I like to include subtle narratives creating an element of curiosity but not to an overpowering level, just enough to question the viewer's judgement of what the work could be about. The title and compositional elements within the paintings will inevitably offer clues regarding each paintings subject.
Solo Exhibitions
(2019) The games that took over, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
Group Exhibitions
(2023) RSA Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
(2023) Scottish Landscape Awards, City Art Centre, Edinburgh
(2023) Hinterland, John Martin Gallery, Cromwell Place, London
(2022) Football Art Prize, Touchstones, Rochdale
(2022) RSA Annual 2022, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
(2022) Bath St Inaugural Exhibition, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
(2021) Surge, Tatha Gallery, Dundee
(2020) 2020 vision, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
(2020) RSA Annual, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
(2019) VAS / SSA Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
(2019) Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
(2018) Open 2018, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
(2018) Elemental, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
(2018) Postcard Show, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
(2018) Open Exhibition - Visual Arts Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Competitions, Prizes & Awards
(2017) RGU Heritage Purchase Award
(2018) David and June Gordon memorial trust award
(2018) Walter Scott Award