Studio: Scotland
Painted onto the cropped end-panel of a wooden travelling chest, this painting re-imagines Julius Porcellis’s c.1630 work Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast, describing a future scenario in which global heating has heightened the severity of storm surges and pushed up sea levels by well over one meter. The iconic rocky structure in the foreground of Porcellis’s piece, a quasi-human form, angled as if striding to the shore, is now partially submerged. The painting outlines a future we must strive to avoid; the recycled substrate references the need to harness sustainability.
500 Years (after Porcellis) is now available for sale after having been exhibited at Christie’s, London as part of the innovative olfactory exhibition Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast (December 2023, curated by Artphilia). Photographs and film of the exhibition and accompanying performance will be released soon.
Please email for purchase information.
Studio: Scotland
“I started these seascapes in the summer of 2022, after having spent the three previous years working almost exclusively on a small scale. Here, I’ve gradually applied expressive layers of oil in abstract shapes onto vintage industrial canvases and large format nautical maps pasted to board. Like the telling and re-telling of a story, I’ve traced and re-traced loops and curves, following familiar channels to build thick swells of paint. These paintings see my mark-making style inverted, with more emphasis placed on the negative space. Suggestive of sustainable practices, the titles of these paintings possess a meditative quality, much like the layering process of their creation.”
First exhibited at Tatha Gallery as part of the exhibition Slow Praxis (co-curated by Cass) works from the series were then shown at The Watermill Gallery in Aberfeldy. Selected paintings from this set will next be shown at The Scottish Gallery in September, but some will be made available via the studio in Scotland in advance of the exhibition.
Studio: Scotland
A rare opportunity to purchase work from David’s letter series. In this set, four individuals – born in or near London – are informed of the effects of sea level rise on the River Thames across their lifetimes. Selected for exhibition during last year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, they’re are now back in the studio and available for purchase.
They’re part of a larger project addressing hundreds of individuals around the world. The sale of this set will fund new not-for-profit environmental artwork. The buyer will also be given the opportunity to have their own letter typed, included in the price, in consultation with the artist.
Matchboxes
Studio: Greece
Galleries, Books, Prints
The Scottish Gallery: Edinburgh, Scotland
Among other paintings by Cass, these two recent miniatures can be found in The Scottish Gallery, as part of the exhibition The Miniaturist Gallery. The film below describes the process of creating the two gouache works, using wooden boxes found whilst the artist was flea-marketing in France over the summer.
Tatha Gallery: Fife, Scotland
UK & Europe
Learn more about David Cass’ works in these books. Cass’ latest volume – Where Once the Waters – was created as a place to compile not only images of the exhibition in Venice, but also the artist’s research and creation processes. Rising Horizon, published by The Scottish Gallery in 2019, was produced to accompany an exhibition of the same name. These last months have also seen David’s work featured within and upon a variety of publications: in the RSA’s coffee-table book Andiamo; in St Jude’s journal Oscillations; in Field’s issue Twos; upon Claudia Roden’s Med cover; and in Out of the Box, a book celebrating contemporary box-art.
Studio: Scotland
Three selected prints, available individually or as a set – framed in walnut, printed onto pro-pearl papers | Panthalassa was the super-ocean that surrounded the super-continent Pangaea, until the landmass began to break up around 250 million years ago. As a title for this series of photographs, Panthalassa (from the Greek πᾶν “all” and θάλασσα “sea”) is used to enforce the notion that these are each captures of the same ocean. Our World Ocean. Spanning twelve years (and counting) these photographs have been taken as research (for painting projects), during material gathering trips, and from the artist’s studio. They link to Cass’ The Sea from Here series, and other works exploring climate change and specifically variations in sea-level rise.