DAVID KEMP
FOUR

9TH MAY UNTIL 1ST JUNE

David Kemp was born in London in 1945. On leaving school he went to sea as a midshipman in the Merchant Navy for four years.

He attended Farnham Art School and Wimbledon School of Art from 1968 to 1972, and moved to West Cornwall in 1975.


Sculpture

He works in a variety of materials including timber, steel and bronze, but is best known for his assemblage sculpture. He lives and works amongst the ruins of the ancient tin mines on the Tinners Coast near St Just in West Cornwall. His collections of 'Relics and Reconstructions from the Late Iron Age' have often been exhibited as spurious museum pieces. His assemblage work has been compared to the work of archaeologists and ethnologists, is often humorous and makes interesting comparisons between mythology and technology, past and future.

Public Sculpture

David Kemp's involvement in Public Art begun when he was artist in residence in Grizedale Forest in Cumbria in 1981. Here he learned the important links between site and content, which he has applied to the many large scale, site-specific sculptures he has built around Britain in the last twenty five years. In the eighties he built a series of large 'post-industrial' sculptures in the North East, such as 'King Coal' on the Durham moors. In 1987 he built the 'Navigators', a very large bronze and steel kinetic sculpture on the Thames near London Bridge. He has built site-specific sculptures for rural and urban spaces; outdoors and interior; pedestrian areas, parks and cityscapes. More recently he has undertaken a series of large sculptures for the Eden Project in Cornwall.

Over the last two years he has been involved in the Redruth Town Regeneration Programme and has installed several bronze and mosaic sculptures in the town.

Solo Exhibitions

2008 Watching Paint Dry (Paintings) Rainyday Gallery, Penzance
2006 The Land Around Us(Paintings) Yew Tree Gallery -Morvah, Penwith - Cornwall
2003 Uncertain Instruments Jersey Sculpture Trust
2003 Uncertain Instruments The Lowry Centre – Salford
2002 Uncertain Instruments Newlyn Art Gallery – Newlyn
1999 Hounds of Geevor Royal Cornwall Museum - Truro
1998 Weather or Not Great Atlantic Mapworks - St Just
1997 Art of Darkness St Ives International, Quality of Light
1995/6 Serious Hot Water Tate Gallery, St Ives
1995 Highway Plants Mead Gallery, Warwick University
1995 Things That Fell Apart Ramsgate Library Gallery
1992 Slaves to the Iron Horse Rufford Country Park, Nottingham
1990 The Tribe That Held the Sky Up McClellan Galleries, Glasgow 1987
1990 Lost Leaders The Metropole, Folkestone
1985 The Taillight Society Manchester Museum of Modern Art
1985 Immaculate Contraptions Glynvivian Art Gallery, Swansea
1985 Heavy Stuff Plymouth Arts Centre
1985 The Refuse Collection Royal Albert Museum, Exeter
1984 White Man's Magic Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield
1984 White Man's Magic Drumcroom Gallery, Wigan

Collections

Arts Council of Great Britain
Northern Arts
Sheffield City Art Gallery and Museum
Wolverhampton City Art Gallery and Museum
Manchester City Art Gallery and Museum
Manchester City Council
Carlisle City Art Gallery and Museum
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Glynvivian Art Gallery, Swansea
Exeter City Museum and Art Gallery
Glasgow City Art Gallery and Museum. Kelvingrove
Hampshire County Council
Sheffield Development Corporation
Nottingham County Council
Liverpool Development Corporation
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Welsh Sculpture Trust
Sustrans Railway Path Construction Co.
The Forestry Commission
Art Park, Lewiston, N.Y., U.S.A.
Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority
Lord Gowrie
Barbara Rockefeller
Pete Townsend
St. Martin's (London Bridge) Development Corporation
Glasgow Transport Museum
M.E.C.P.
Price Waterhouse
Glasgow Museum of Modern Art
National Trust - Devon and Cornwall
The Eden Project - Cornwall
Redcar Borough Council
Redruth Town Council
DAISI Devon County Council
Cardiff Bay Development Corporation
Jersey Sculpture Trust
The Royal Cornwall Museum – Truro
Cornwall County council
Geevor Tin Mines – Cornwall
Kerrier District Council
Gorey Castle – Jersey
Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall
Falmouth Museum and Art Gallery

Awards

1996 Gulbaken Rural Community Art Project. Nancledra, Cornwall
1995 Tate Gallery, St Ives. "Wild Works" project with Kneehigh Theatre
1994 Royal Society of Arts Award. Morecambe Public Art Project
1992 S.W.A. award for "Wild Walks" project with Kneehigh Theatre
1989 S.W.A. award for video project
1984 Mendelson Foundation "Outsiders" Award
1981 Nuffield Trust

Group Exhibitions

2008 Mixed / No Theme, Goldfish, Penzance
2008 Africa Calling, Falmouth Art Gallery
2007 Move, Goldfish at Vyner Street, London
2007 Art Now Cornwall?, Goldfish, Penzance
2007 Scrap Art, Falmouth Art Gallery
2006 Visiting Picasso, Falmouth Art Gallery
1998/99 Animal Magic, Edinburgh City Art Centre
1998/99 National Museum of Wales


Touring

1996 Wheels of Fire, Wolverhampton City Art Gallery
1996 Bolton City Art Gallery
1995 Centenary Exhibition, Newlyn Art Gallery
1994 In a Different Light, Truro City Museum
1994 Second Sight N.C.C.A. Durham Touring Exhibition (including Newlyn Art Gallery)
1986 Glasgow Garden Festival, Glasgow
1984 A Sense of Place, Grizedale Forest Sculpture Touring Exhibition
1984 International Sculpture, Symposium Yorkshire Sculpture Park
1984 Sculpture Zo,o Liverpool Garden Festival
1984 Three Exhibitions about Sculpture, Arts Council Touring Exhibition
1984 Headhunters, Arts Council Touring Exhibition
1983 Sculpture in a Country, Welsh Sculpture Trust, MargamPark, Port Talbot
1982 Presences of Nature, Carlisle Museum Touring Exhibition
1981 Fragments Against Ruin, Arts Council Touring Exhibition
1980 Public Hanging, Penwith Gallery, St Ives


Residencies

2003 Theatrical Device for Simulating Invading Armies Jersey Heritage Trust - Samares Manor - Jersey
2001 Island of Dreams – Citta Vittoriosa – Malta - with Kneehigh Theatre - British Council
1999 Ghost Nets with Kneehigh Theatre
1997 The Women who Threw the Day Away - Theatre and Sculpture project with Kneehigh Theatre. Botallack Cliffs. Tate Gallery and . St Ives International.
1996 Ghost Nets - Theatre and Sculpture Project with Kneehigh Theatre Red River, Gwithian. Tate Gallery and B.T.C.V
1995 Mead Art Gallery, Warwick University
1992 Sustrans Railway Paths, Durham and Glasgow
1991 Bournemouth International Festival
1988 Science Park, Sheffield
1987 Grizedale Forest Sculptor, Grizedale, Cumbria
1985 Art Park, Lewiston, New York, U.S.A.
1983 Yorkshire Sculpture Park – International Sculpture Symposium
1983 Welsh Sculpture Trust, Margam Country Park, Port Talbot, Wales
1983 Grizedale Forest Sculptor, Grizedale, Cumbria
1982 Metro Sculptor, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, (Tyne and Wear)
1981 Grizedale Forest Sculptor, Grizedale, Cumbria


Public Sculptures

2008 Murdoch Mosaics, A set of five mosaic panels, Redruth
2007 Tinners Hounds, Eight bronze sculptures, Fore Street, Redruth
2007 Jet Setters, Yeovil District Hospital
2007 Engine of Small Change, Newlyn Art Gallery
2007 Sparkling Water Plants, Broomhill Sculpture Gardens, Devon (projected)
2005 School of Palettes, St Ives Railway Station
2004 A Theatrical Device for Simulating Invading Armies, Jersey
2003 Penzance Passenger Interchange (Penzance Railway Station)
2003 Delabole Giant, Delabole C.P. School, Cornwall
2003 Flexiplants 3, Eden Project, Cornwall
2002 Seven Red Plaice, Regent's Walk, Redcar, Cleveland
2002 Flexiplants 2, The Eden Project, St Austell, Cornwall
2000 Greenhouse of other worlds, The Eden Project, St Austell, Cornwall
2000 Industrial Flame Plants, The Eden Project, St Austell, Cornwall
2000 Looking Both Ways, Lloyd George Avenue, Cardiff Bay
2000 Brian's Brain, The Lowry Arts Centre, Manchester
2000 Tib Street Horn, Large urban landmark sculpture in central Manchester's Northern Quarter
2000 Flexiplants, The Eden Project, St Austell, Cornwall
1999 Naval Nurses Stonehouse, Plymouth
1999 Tropics Trader, The Eden Project, St Austell, Cornwall
1995 Waterwheel, Burrs Country Park - Bury
1994 The Tern Project, Public Art Regeneration Project. Morecambe Promenade, Cast iron bird bollards and a 200 metre long "Flying fence"
1994 The Ancient Forester, A 20 ft timber and steel figure at Grizedale Forest Park, Cumbria.
1994 Chough Bowl, A bronze sculpture commissioned to commemorate David Penhaligon, MP for Truro.
1993 Chichester Road Gang, Sustrans railway path, Levant, Chichester.
1992 King Coal, A 30 ft high head in masonry and steel at Pelton Fell, County Durham.
1992 The Vox populaire, A mahogany, brass and steel, ten function kinetic sculpture at Ogilvy & Mathers European Headquarters at Canary Wharf.
1989 The Old Transformers, Two giant 20 ft high steel heads, one of an iron master, one of a miner, at Consett, County Durham.
1990 The Lost XVII, An army made from steel, unearthed at the Sustrans railway path at Kilmacolm, Glasgow.
1990 Headquarters, Four large bronze heads for the atrium of Price Waterhouse new headquarters in Birmingham.
1990 The Hampshire Hog, A life-sized bronze boar commissioned by Hampshire County Council to celebrate their centenary. It is sited outside County Hall at the Castle, Winchester.
1988 Heavy Plant, A large steel and masonry plant form at Sheffield Science Park
1986 The Navigators, A 60 ft high steel and bronze kinetic fountain at Hays Galleria, London Bridge City.
1982 The Iron Horse, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Metro Station, Four Lane Ends.


Clients include:

M.E.P.C., St James Square, London
St. Martin's Development Corporation, London Bridge, London
Ogilvy & Mather, Canary Wharf, London
Price Waterhouse, Cornwall Court, Birmingham
Sheffield Development Corporation
Liverpool Development Corporation
The Forestry Commission
Glasgow City Art Galleries
Sustrans N.E., County Durham
Sustrans Scotland
Sustrans S., Chichester
Hampshire County Council
Teignmouth District Council
Lancaster City Council
Chester City Council
Bury Metropolitan District Council
Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive
Lord Gowrie
Barbara Rockefeller
Tate Gallery, St Ives
Kneehigh Theatre, Cornwall
Eden Project, St Austell, Cornwall
Cornwall County Council
Plymouth City Council
Cardiff Bay Arts Trust
The Lowry Arts Centre, Machester
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council
Penwith District Council, Cornwall
Jersey Sculpture Trust
Creative Partnerships, Cornwall
Wessex Trains
Gorey Castle – Jersey
Kerrier District Council – Cornwall
Broomhill Sculpture Park – Devon
Sarah Walker, Mezzo Soprano
The National Trust, Devon and Cornwall
899 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm