David Cheeseman

Working mainly with sculpture, installation and photography David Cheeseman’s practice was informed by specific links and analogies. He was profoundly interested in process to analyse and construct a visual proposition.

Materiality was as important as image; his fascination with the methodologies and philosophies of science and magic culminated in works that are conceptually complex and visually rich.

David Cheeseman died of cancer in September 2018. He worked on new pieces right up to the end of his life and in the summer of last year we had cheerfully talked about and planned a second solo-show at Tintype. Drawn Breath is not that show but it is an appropriate way to honour his work, introduce it to new audiences and offer a considered look at the practice of a remarkable artist.

The work we are showing touches on the concept of dark matter, physics, Duchamp’s pipe, astronauts, and the moon. It has been completed by David Cheeseman’s partner and long-term collaborator, the artist Mhairi Vari.

David Cheeseman’s work is currently featured in the Coventry Contemporary Art Biennale, and Domobaal Gallery in London will be showing one of his more astonishing glass pieces Once ever After: Thrice Removed from 15 November until 14 December.

“David often used the magical/scientific structural and optical properties of transparent blown and cast glasses to activate and levitate specific objects within space. This approach seemed to defy the substance of materials and their gravitational pull allowing us to suspend our disbelief. For me, this aspect of his work seems to exemplify David’s approach: to make complex theoretical and scientific ideas combine effortlessly with the stuff of life.”

- Annie Cattrell, Artist

“Cheeseman’s work makes visible fleeting visions and stabilises them in sculptural forms and installations. He captures the nebulous giving it presence, whilst still managing to retain a lightness, developed through carefully considered material handling. Cheeseman’s conjuring of auratic artworks, makes us feel as if we were seeing something that should not exist in the world. It is this facility expressed through his work which makes his oeuvre so compelling and of great interest to contemporary sculptural and arts practice today.”

- Mona Casey, Artist & Curator

During his career David Cheeseman completed public commissions and was the artist in residence at Gloucester Cathedral. In 1991 he was awarded the Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Award and in 2001 he participated at the touring exhibition Multiplication organized by the British Council. Other notable exhibitions include Dumfounded at Battersea Arts Centre (1999), Art Futures at the Royal Festival Hall (2000) and On the Other Hand at Gloucester Cathedral (2006). David Cheeseman was awarded the Gulbenkian Rome Scholarship in Sculpture, and The Henry Moore Fellow in Sculpture at Coventry University. In 2015 he completed a residency at Lydney Park Estate in association with Matt’s Gallery London and also presented a Fig.2 at the ICA in collaboration with Ole Hagen and astrophysicist Roberto Trotta. In 2016 he had a solo show, Slime Mould Logic at Tintype.

David Cheeseman taught extensively in the UK and was Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Birmingham City University.