David Rae

Artist

By James Robertson

April 10^th, 2023

David graduated with a first class BA (Hons) in Painting from Gray’s School of Art in 2017 and currently his time is split between painting and working as an art handler at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh, one of the longest established fine art and antiques auction houses in the UK.

Lyon & Turnbull also happen to be a long term client of mine and a more typical interaction between myself and David is him lifting a piece of antique furniture into position so that I can photograph it. This time, however, I spent an hour watching him adding fine detail to one of his recent works and I think we were both much more in our natural habitats.

You can read David’s artist statement below and see more of his work here.

“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 judgmentg of what the work could be about. The title and compositional elements within the paintings will inevitably offer clues regarding each painting's subject.”