John Ruskin Prize 2025
John Ruskin Prize 2025
 
 

This painting, titled September 2020—April 2024 has been shortlisted for the John Ruskin Prize 2025. Selected from nearly 3000 entries, the shortlist, which called for artists to explore the theme ‘From the Eye to the Hand’ will be exhibited in January 2025 at Trinity Buoy Wharf. A total of 87 works by 85 artists, makers and innovators were selected by Andrew Nairne OBE: Director, Kettles Yard, Prof Anita Taylor: Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at the University of Dundee, Charles.O.Job: Architect and designer, Nichola Johnson OBE FSA: a Director of the Guild of St George, Emma Stibbon RA: Artist & Royal Academician.

The same painting also features in the latest edition of Artists & Illustrators magazine – excerpt from Picture This below:

“There are certain objects which have become synonymous within my practice; objects which I use as surfaces for painting onto. I was immediately drawn to this oak door, principally because of the story its face told: the ghost traces of large ornate strap-hinges and holes where once handle and lock turned; a radius of screw holes which seem to form the rays of a sun.

This door must be 250 years old. How many families lived behind it? What events did it stoically endure? How many hundreds of thousands of times was it opened, closed, locked, knocked, slammed? Doors are familiar, essential items, and each conjures a story and bears witness to the life it's led.

In around 2018, I realised I was almost exclusively making artwork about the sea. I wasn't living near the sea at the time, but I was continually preoccupied with water. In 2014, I lived in the Almería arid zone for a short time and experienced what it was like to go about daily life with a serious shortage of water. Then, the following year, in 2015, I spent time in Venice and witnessed the opposite extreme. Both experiences had an impact on me, led to exhibitions and contributed to a strong and long-lasting desire to use my art practice as a means to explore environmental issues related to water.

My work aims to celebrate the sea, whilst posing serious questions about its current vulnerability. I hope that this painting might open a dialogue, triggering contemplation on the importance of our oceans.”

 

September 2020–April 2024
C.18th solid oak plank door · Norfolk
Gouache · 77 x 196 x 4cm

 
David Cass
Surface Spotlight

This post offers extra insights into the processes and concept behind my recent work, and the ongoing series Light on Water—much of which can be seen in the virtual exhibition Objet.

Between 2019 and 2022 I worked almost exclusively on a tiny scale, with miniature brushes and intense focus. Before, during and after lockdown—and through three studio moves—I painted sea onto 365 antique metal tins, completing them for the 59th Venice Biennale as part of a wider artistic study of our changing seas.

With a strong desire to expand, to work expressively—with larger brushes and on a greater scale—in the summer of 2022 I began work on a new series; one which references past projects while exploring new themes.

As is the nature of my practice, the substrates had to be recycled, formed from repurposed materials as much as possible. The surfaces I usually paint onto are readymade objects (wooden boxes, tins, drawers) and so an increase in scale brings challenges. I’ve been collecting antique nautical maps, rolls of part-used vintage canvas, bus-blinds and more; pasting them to various kinds of board, sometimes collaging book covers and other miscellaneous cardboard items on top. Plaster is applied to some; others are filled, sanded and gessoed. Working large (predominantly in oil) means long drying times between layers, so I work on pieces in rotation. I had a vision for this series, for each work to abstractly describe cropped closeups of sea surface, without sky or land, with reflected sunlight as the protagonist. The image of sea surface can be infinitely abstracted.

Here, I am expressively, bodily, determinedly painting—with much larger brushes. The time it takes for each layer to dry allows reflection, and each subsequent layer becomes more deliberate. Grooves and channels are formed, then traced and re-traced—like the telling and re-telling of a familiar story. Shapes of loops and curves described in thick swells of paint, with emphasis placed on the negative space. Each layer changes the dynamic of the piece in question. Some are hard won, others emerge as if meant to be. I pick out details with small brushes, pushing back areas of shadow, adding highlights and bright spots of sunlight intuitively. Those marks respond to the paint beneath, to the marks made during that period of great physical activity.

Apart from this principal series of large-scale seas, painted mostly onto bus-blinds and canvases, my recent work also includes paintings upon boat pulleys, decorator’s stamps, doors, tins, codfish boxes, artist’s boxes, matchboxes and various types of card.

Pulley I, Rockport ME
Pulley I, Rockport ME
£540.00
Stamp I, Spitalfields
Stamp I, Spitalfields
£260.00
Codfish I, Brunswick ME
Codfish I, Brunswick ME
£440.00

One grouping takes inspiration from the dramatic sea paintings of Dutch Old Masters, these afforded the opportunity to paint more representationally, with a more exaggerated palette. Initially created for an exhibition at Christie’s, London in late 2023, these pieces present another pace and a brief return to a small scale, but using techniques learned from the larger abstract works.

Years V
Years V
£580.00

Conceptually, Light at Water leads on from Rising Horizon.

Rising Horizon was formed of seascapes—painted in oil onto predominantly found metal substrates—which charted an ever-increasing horizon-line, each titled as a percentage relative to the height of the painted sea, making reference to the issue of rising sea levels, with key works along the way designed to highlight the reasons behind this significant element of the climate crisis (steel roadsigns were used as painting surfaces to highlight pollution from transportation, a copper boiler referenced thermal expansion of seawater). Light on Water does the same, though rather than exploring the many reasons behind rising seawater, it looks specifically at one: the storage capacity of our oceans. The very fact that most of the works feature only sea (without sky) suggests that a limit has been reached—our oceans cannot take any more.

 
Ground - Sketch V - 8.5 x 14cm, gouache, watercolour & pencil on photo mount, framed, 2023 copy.jpg
Ground
£350.00
Immerse - Sketch XIII - 16.5 x 11cm, gouache, watercolour & pencil on photo mount, framed, 2023 copy.jpg
Immerse
£400.00
Craft - Sketch II - 6.5 x 8.5cm, gouache, watercolour & pencil on photo mount, framed, 2023 copy.jpg
Craft
£300.00
Gather - Sketch XIV - 17.5 x 11.3cm, egg tempera, watercolour & gouache on book cover, framed, 2023 copy.jpg
Gather
£400.00
 
 

Our oceans are storing an estimated 91 percent of the excess heat energy trapped in the Earth’s climate system. As warming climbs exponentially, our planet’s oceans—also home to most of its life—won’t be able to store any more of it. Every other breath we take comes from microscopic underwater organisms. That same water is absorbing nine times as much global warming as the world above the surface.

If we look to the North & South Poles—Earth’s thermostats—the consequences of warming water are disastrous. Here, we are faced with one of the most striking visuals of the climate crisis: a battle of light vs. dark.

Reduce (2023–24) 31.5 x 88cm, oil, solar reflective paint, spray paint & ink on primed wooden box lid

Several Light on Water paintings have been painted with what could be described as a monochrome palette. Or, they show a clear contrast between dark and light. In these works, the lighter marks (painted in part with a specialist solar reflective paint) represent ice, bouncing sunlight away and protecting the sea below. The dark paintwork (including Indian ink) represents sea.

 
 

Persist (2023–24) 35 x 37cm, oil, oil bar & pastel on plastered & primed bus blinds on board

 
 

As we lose ice, we also lose its ability to reflect sunlight. Less white reflective ice at our Poles means more dark heat-storing sea; more heated sea means more melting ice. In a warming planet, ice can’t re-form. It’s the ice that provides the Earth’s climate with the balance that we need.

Within the exhibition book, another project can be found: the Lost Ice Archive. Over the last few years, I’ve been collecting old photographs, slides, postcards and news cuttings featuring (long lost) ice—bergs, sheets, floes, glaciers, snow—to form an archive of sorts. Certainly, the ice featured in each of these images is now melted. There’s a deep sadness to the loss of these mammoth bergs, once seen as a “menace” (as more than one news clipping states) they are today indicators of our planet’s health. Ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica has increased fivefold since the 1990s, and now accounts for a quarter of sea-level rise. The Greenland ice cap alone is losing an average of 30m tonnes of ice an hour; calving ice making way for dark heat-storing sea.

 
 
 

I reached out to friends and family to help title the works, to offer words which encouraged sustainable action. The resulting titles read like a mission statement, striving for positivity and communal action, for it is by coming together that we might limit global warming.

Study,
Identify,
Commit,
Account,
Contribute,
Consider,
Reflect,
Resist,
Slow,
Act.

 
David Cass
Light on Water
Light on Water

These paintings present a dual narrative: they are at once representations of reflected sunlight upon the surface of seawater captured at different times; and, when taken as a whole, a springboard to discuss the effects of warming seawater and the loss of ice at our Poles.

“David Cass takes a long look at the ocean in his tenth solo exhibition, ‘Light on Water’, at The Scottish Gallery. Somehow, the show manages to be both an in-depth reflection on surfaces of water (if that is not an inherent contradiction) and to embody deep concerns with climate change …

In a sense, these works are abstract. They don’t depict particular stretches of water, but are concerned with colours and moods; water is the language of the work as much as the subject. The hang in The Scottish Gallery, which places the paintings at different levels, creates the sense of the work as the sum of its parts as well as inviting us to look at individual components.

… Cass approaches his subject with such energy and engagement that it’s rarely dull, and manages to spark reflection on climate change without allowing the show to feel heavy-handed or overly didactic.”
— Susan Mansfield, The Scotsman ★★★★ | Excerpt from review (9.9.24)
“For David Cass, the sea offers an endless source of wonder at its depths, history, bounty, and sometimes ferocity ... the artist has long been fascinated by the power of water, especially its increasing vulnerability to the effects of the climate crisis.

In ’Light on Water’, his current solo exhibition at The Scottish Gallery, the artist continues to address the warming and rapid rising of ocean levels around the world through paintings that hover between abstraction and representation.

Cass draws attention to estimates that 91 percent of Earth’s excess heat energy trapped in the climate system is stored by our oceans. As the planet continues to warm, this storage capability disappears, threatening all manner of life...”
— Kate Mothes, Colossal (5.9.24)
“Cass has long concerned himself with climate change and in his new exhibition – the tenth major solo show of his career – he continues to wrestle with these era-defining issues. His atmospheric seascapes are painted onto found objects, many of them antiques, and these aged former containers, books and other objects remind the viewer of a time when humans had yet to have such a significant impact on the natural world.”
— Scotland on Sunday (1.9.24)
David Cass
Opening Soon: Light on Water
Opening Soon: Light on Water

Light on Water opens on August 29th at The Scottish Gallery

“The sea has captivated artists since time immemorial. For David Cass, born in Edinburgh and raised in the Scottish Borders, an interest in the natural rhythm of the local landscape led him to the sea as an early source of inspiration. He paints the sea in all its moods, creating images that combine direct observation with a poetic sensibility.

In his latest exhibition, which marks Cass’s tenth major solo presentation of his career, the artist celebrates the power and majesty of the oceans, and continues to use his art to campaign for climate awareness. Rising sea levels, unpredictable severe storms, and the bleaching of coral reefs starkly remind us of how human activity is altering the natural balance of our seas.”

— The Scottish Gallery

 
 
David Cass
Ten
Ten

With my tenth solo exhibition approaching, I’m looking back at the shows that led to it. Since graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2010, I’ve presented ten interconnected physical solo exhibitions, plus the solo virtual exhibition Journey of an Artwork and charity fundraisers. Between each, I’ve organised and participated in mixed and open shows, award exhibitions, collaborative projects and outreach events – including workshops, screenings and recently a performance – with a mounting environmental agenda. Artworks have been shown at COP21, 26 & 27; and at venues including Christie’s, The Royal Academy, Royal Scottish Academy, Tatha Gallery, Moncreiff-Bray, The Scottish Gallery and more.

 

September 2011:

Unearthed

In this first exhibition at The Scottish Gallery, a collection of found object based watercolour paintings introduced my working approach.

 

June 2013:

Years of Dust & Dry

A second exhibition at The Scottish Gallery saw this approach intensified, with a deeper focus on the sea and bodies of water, and over 200 paintings and constructions made using increasingly unconventional recycled materials.

 

July 2015:

Tonight Rain, Tomorrow Mud

As a result of a Royal Scottish Academy scholarship, an interest in travel and historic environmental events was ignited, leading to a body of artworks exhibited at The Scottish Gallery on recycled papers depicting, among other subjects, scenes of historic Great Floods in Florence & Paris and drought in southern Spain.

 

April – May 2016:

Surface | Part I of II

As my preoccupation with water took on a more prominent role in my practice, this pop-up solo at Gayfield Creative provided a comprehensive look back at water paintings – on a variety of surfaces – created between 2010 and 2016.

 

November 2016:

Perimetri Perduti (Perimeters Lost) | Part I of II

This exhibition and book launch in Florence’s Palazzo Lanfredini – headquarters of The British Institute of Florence – marked the 50th year since the city’s Great Flood of 1966. The launch event featured eyewitness accounts from those who lived through the flood and was followed by the Italian premiere of Roger Graef’s Why Save Florence.

 

January 2017:

Pelàda

To open The Scottish Gallery’s 175th anniversary celebrations, I was selected to exhibit as an ambassador of the gallery’s contemporary tier. Here, my focus shifted from Florence to Venice, and from the theme of historical inundation to present-day issues of mass tourism and rising sea levels.

 

January – February 2019:

Rising Horizon

A fifth solo exhibition with The Scottish Gallery zoomed out from my previous: from detailed depictions of Venice’s plight to the global issue of rising sea levels. Here, a climbing horizon-line was used as a tool to impart climate data; further explained in the accompanying publication and an in-conversation event with climate change scientist Dr Dave Reay. This exhibition saw new working materials including recycled plastic waste and metals.

 

January – February 2020

Horizon Rising | Fàire a’ Dìreadh

As Scotland’s Year of Coasts & Waters began, Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre in North Uist presented a second instalment of my sea rise series alongside workshops and talks. New additions to the series referenced the gallery’s location, at the very edge of a low-lying island, as sea levels gradually climb.

 

April – May 2022:

Where Once the Waters | Venice Biennale 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic hit soon after Horizon Rising, resulting in the delay of my 2021 Biennale exhibition. The extra year allowed the expansion of my original idea and increased online activity during the period led to a more interactive project. Participants from around the world took part in my sea level survey, resulting in hundreds of personalised typed letter-artworks. These were combined with a series of 365 miniature seascapes. Various iterations of the two-part project have since been exhibited, with groupings of the works exhibited in the UK, USA & Egypt. One hundred of the miniature seascapes were shown during The Scottish Gallery’s exhibition Contemporary, and fifty can be found in Light on Water.

 

August 29th – September 28th 2024:

Light on Water

The title of my tenth solo exhibition possesses a dual meaning. While the show overall acts as a survey of key themes and materials, a main body of thirty paintings was created using a new approach. Cropped closeups of sea surface at once celebrate the sea’s brilliance, abstractly describing the play of light across its surface; whilst also referencing the very real issues presented by warming seawater, particularly in our Earth’s most vulnerable regions. Sign up to my newsletter for updates.

 
David Cass
Sentinels of the Shore | Reconciling Art & Science

Excerpt from Dr Anne Hellegouarc’h-Bryce’s 2024 paper:
Sentinels of the shore. Reconciling art and science

 
“Science in an artistic guise: today different disciplines have much to gain from feeding from one another: combining different perceptions and means of expression, apprehending the world through multiple prisms, enables us to better apprehend what is threatening it. This paper explores the context that gave rise to such ‘science-infused’ artistic initiatives…”

Dr Anne Hellegouarc’h-Bryce is a senior lecturer in British Civilisation at the University of Western Brittany specialising in the issues linked to image and cultural identity.

 
 

Horizon Rising 2020

Excerpt:

The issue of rising sea levels is the focus of recent work by Edinburgh-born visual artist David Cass. His work … was displayed at the water’s edge in Lochmaddy … with [this] concern in mind: to make the rise visible, hence real, for people. Cass has long been concerned about the impact of climate change and this is reflected in the form and themes of his work – in particular his consistent focus on the sea as the main subject of his work. Through his choice of found and salvaged materials and objects to paint on, he expresses his concern for sustainability, but also perhaps comments on the pervasive material legacy of the Anthropocene.

 

Where Once the Waters: 365 Days (Series II) 2022

David Cass’s work is very much about watching, in the very real sense of keeping a watch over the tideline, the rising sea and horizon lines, as a long-term artistic monitoring process to alert and warn us. In Where Once the Waters (365 days), fittingly exhibited at the 2022 Venice Biennale, Cass took on the role of a committed and patient sentinel. By displaying together 365 painted seascapes, he did not simply record the infinitely varying hues of sea and sky but symbolically documented a year of daily changes in the sea level, thereby inviting the viewer to ponder the causes and consequences of the phenomenon and its ultimate effect on the coasts and communities living along them.

Another work dealt just as explicitly with the consequences we must now prepare for: displayed at Taigh Chearsabhagh in Lochmaddy in Uist, Horizon Rising can be described as virtually immersive: the viewers surrounded physically (outside) as well as symbolically (on the gallery walls) by the sea were made more aware of the threat its inexorable reclaiming of the coastline represents, not least for the local communities.

 

Rising Horizon 2019

Cass’s work is an example of cross-pollination: it is both informed by science and aimed at making scientific findings more understandable by mediating between scientists and viewers (although a disclaimer warns the viewer that the work should not be taken as providing scientific guidance). At the opening of the Rising Horizon show in Edinburgh in January 2019, after the artist introduced his work and mentioned sea-rise as the “serious concept behind it”, an allocution was made by Dr Dave Reay, Professor in Carbon Management. It is not so common to have a scientist talk at the opening of an art show, and Dr Reay’s very enthusiastic response to the artwork seems to confirm the new synergy at work, with art and science working towards a common goal instead of looking in opposite directions. According to the carbon specialist, the public’s positive reception of David Cass’s work did not simply reflect an aesthetic and emotional response but an appreciation of its sustainability. That Cass’s work and approach have resonance in the scientific field seems further confirmed by the artist’s involvement in the Climate Change Creative at the COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, and by his work (in film) being screened as part of the curated program Art Speaks Out at the following year’s COP27 UN conference on climate change held at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt.

“David Cass is one among a growing number of artists who act as sentinels for our shores...”
 
David Cass
Reflecting on Digital Identity & Community in the Art World
Reflecting on Digital Identity & Community in the Art World

Five Insights: in Collaboration with .ART

Over on Instagram – in collaboration with .ART domains – I’m in the process of sharing five insights into my artwork, use of found objects, working processes, and into this very website.

As you may know, my work is not bound to any one place. My materials come from various locations (mostly around Europe) and recently my subject matter has been almost completely imagined. So, location-specific domain names never suited this website. I came across .ART around seven years ago and have used it proudly ever since, incorporating the domain into my email address and even my Instagram handle. This fits well with my ethos of simple yet effective brand alignment. Less digital clutter keeps the artwork in the foreground.

As someone involved in various artistic disciplines, I’m glad to be part of a growing community. Friends use the domain, institutions, and renowned artists like El Anatsui, known for his colossal found object creations. Anatsui talks about the transformative power of working with found objects; how it allows the public to mix their own memories of a particular object with the experience of viewing an artwork. His inspirational bottle-top installations were on view recently in the Tate Turbine Hall. Other .ART adopters include Sharon Stone, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, and the Marina Abramovic Institute.

Another aspect that drew me to .ART is their commitment to supporting the arts in meaningful ways. Funded by domain sales, their Art Therapy Initiative promotes the healing powers of art, which resonates with my belief in art’s profound impact on mental wellness. Their community is vibrant and active, offering resources like Meet the .ARTists, where artists share their creative processes, experiences with art residencies, and insights into art promotion and therapy. These sessions have been incredibly valuable, allowing me to connect with a broader audience and learn from other artists’ stories.

For artists looking to align their digital presence with their creative identity, I highly recommend considering a .ART domain. It’s been an integral part of my branding, helping me bring my diverse artistic expressions under one cohesive umbrella.

David Cass
2024 | Looking Ahead
 

Two key dates for your diaries this year

Next month I’ll exhibit with Tatha Gallery, in their 10th anniversary group show. In September I’ll exhibit with The Scottish Gallery, to celebrate my own milestone: a 10th solo exhibition. Work is already well underway (studio: slideshow bottom right). The show will revisit some of my key projects over the last fourteen years featuring paintings on reclaimed wood and canvas, collections of found-objects, paper and card studies…

 
 
David Cass
500 Years | Meet the Performers
500 Years | Meet the Performers
Featured
Aisling O'Dea
Aisling O'Dea

Dublin-born violinist Aisling O’Dea has had a varied career to date. Violinist, animateur, presenter and narrator of children’s stories through musical and interactive workshops. She lived and worked in Germany for 11 years before moving to the UK on being appointed to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in 2007. A passionate musician, Aisling enjoys collaborating across art forms: art, dance and the spoken word. She is a founding member of Artisan Ensemble, a group dedicated to performances of core chamber music repertoire and contemporary compositions.

Anita Vedres
Anita Vedres

A violinist born and based in Dublin, Anita is a former member of the Irish Chamber Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra (Dublin), continuing to play with them and both the RTE Concert Orchestra and Irish National Opera. With a Masters degree in baroque violin, she is a founding and active member of the Irish Baroque Orchestra. Aside from her diverse orchestral activities, she enjoys playing early and contemporary music in smaller chamber ensembles and has premiered numerous works by Irish composers.

Emma Purslow
Emma Purslow

Violinist Emma Purslow leads the Alkyona String Quartet and collaborates regularly with ensembles and orchestras including O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, Explore Ensemble, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra. Emma is a sought-after teacher and workshop leader, teaching at Chethams School of Music. She is a member of Quimantu, an Anglo-Chilean band dedicated to creating opportunities for people of all cultures to express themselves through music.  

David Cass
David Cass

Scottish artist David Cass divides his time between the UK and Europe. Water plays the central role in his award-winning environmental art practice. From painting to performance, David engages his audience, presenting accessible exhibitions in response to the climate crisis — and specifically the topic of rising sea levels. ‘500 Years’ was designed for Christie’s, weaving past, present and future oceanic change, highlighting the power of art in raising crucial awareness.

David Cass
500 Years | Painting + Performance at Christie's
500 Years | Painting + Performance at Christie's

Olfactory exhibition (now closed)

Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast

An innovative sensory exhibition centred around Julius Porcellis’s c.1630 painting Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast curated by Artphilia. Two other Old Masters’ works are included in this display, alongside a painting by David Cass – titled 500 Years (after Porcellis) – which acts as a form of counterpoint to the Dutch Master’s work, visualising a future scenario in which global heating has heightened the severity of storm surges and dramatically altered sea-levels.

Performance (now closed)

500 Years

This month we learned that our planet is on track for almost 3-degrees Celsius of global warming. 500 Years was an immersive performance, imagining sea-level rise across five centuries, from pre-industrial times, to a 3-degree-future. The performance summoned through music what the aforementioned painted work does through paint. Devised by Cass and featuring violinists Aisling O’Dea, Emma Purslow & Anita Vedres, the performance was part of Christie’s December 4th programme Old Masters, New Era.

 
David Cass
Matchboxes in the Studio
 

Since lockdown, I’ve been slowly collecting Scottish Bluebell matchboxes from all corners of the internet – good vintage examples like these are becoming harder and harder to find. If you’re familiar with my work, you’ll know what’s happening here. With these boxes, I’m creating miniature seascapes, inspired by the view from my studio here in Athens. Small pieces of found wood are cut to size and inserted into each drawer. These can be purchased online.

 
 
Scottish Bluebell VIII
Sold
Scottish Bluebell VIII
£175.00
Reserved Scottish Bluebell VI
Sold
Reserved Scottish Bluebell VI
£255.00
David Cass
Journey for an Exhibition (i)
Journey for an Exhibition (i)

Menton, August 2023

 

In early August I loaded my van with paintings and set off from Athens – where I’m currently based – destined for Scotland. This is the first long-haul road trip I’ve made since moving to Greece in 2021. An artist’s life involves a lot of logistical planning: artworks need to be regularly moved around, delivered to clients, consigned to galleries. In my own practice, materials also need to be gathered. I don’t paint onto conventional substrates, rather, I re-purpose vintage, well-used household items and objects. But it’s not realistic – or environmentally friendly – to take frequent gathering trips. Activities need to be saved-up and artworks planned well in advance of their display dates. And so, last year I began plotting a multi-purpose trip for summer 2023 from Greece to the UK, that would combine delivering and installing artworks for slow Praxis (September 2023, Tatha Gallery, Scotland); storing the first few pieces for my next solo exhibition in The Scottish Gallery in 2024; collecting artworks from Moncrieff-Bray Gallery (West Sussex, England) which have now been re-consigned to Fry Gallery (Essex, England) for their November 2023 fundraising sale; and throughout the journey north, visiting flea-markets and Brocantes. And, importantly, stopping over in places which are bound to inspire the creation of new artwork.

 

I

Athens ~ Patras ~ Bari

 
 
 

II

Bari ~ Orvieto

 
 

III

Orvieto ~ Lucca

 
 

I first visited Lucca in 2010, on a Royal Scottish Academy scholarship to nearby Florence. Since then I’ve returned a handful of times, including for the Mercato Antiquario Lucchese which takes over the entire city. This time I re-visited many of the locations I’ve drawn and painted previously. On these material gathering trips I generally arrive at each destination in the late afternoon after having driven throughout the day, just in time for golden hour, resulting in photographs of strong light and long shadow.

 
 
 

IV

Lucca ~ Ventimiglia ~ Menton ~ Roquebrune-Cap-Martin

 
 

Between 2014 and 2015 I spent a year living and working in Spain. During that time, I was also working on a pair of exhibition projects in Florence (Perimetri Perduti & “Quest’Arno, Quest’Arno!”) and I would drive across the south of France and into Italy, discovering places to stop on route. As I approached Italy, Ventimiglia old town became a favourite place to stay, which I painted often.

 
 
 

V

Roquebrune-Cap-Martin ~ Marseille ~ Aix-en-Provence

 
 
 

VI

Aix-en-Provence ~ Luberon ~ L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

 
 

Located in Provence, one of France’s most beautiful regions, the key gathering point for this trip was L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and the annual Antiques Festival. Provence boasts dozens of carefully preserved historic villages, galleries, regular markets and an abundance of Brocantes. The medieval villages of the Luberon, known for their purity of light, are well worth exploring; with Lacoste of particular note, the campus of international art school SCAD.

 
 
 

VII

L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

· International Antiques Festival 2023

 
 

This is my second time visiting L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue to gather materials. Almost the whole town is transformed during the fair. Here, I purchased some of the most iconic surfaces of my career. The painted wooden door that was used to advertise Years of Dust & Dry in 2013 came from here. This time I collected coffee-grinders (their drawers make the idea painting surface), shutters, boxes, signage, pattern stamps, and more.

 
 
 

VIII

Carpentras ~ Gordes ~ Roussillon ~ Apt

· Gare Écoparc Grand Vide-Grenier, Carpentras
· La Belle Brocante, Apt

 
 
 
 

IX

Provence ~ Paris

· Le Village Saint Paul
· Marche aux Puces de la Porte de Vanves

 
 

My first stop in Paris, in the heart of the Marais between Rue Saint Antoine and the Seine, was the Village Saint Paul, which comprises over eighty designers, antique dealers and galleries. The antique shops here have a focus on collectibles and smaller-scale items. I purchased vintage stationery, frames and small wooden boxes (postage, glasses, domino and card-boxes). My last stop before leaving the city was the Porte de Vanves flea-market, my favourite of the markets around Paris’ Boulevard Périphérique.

 
 
 

IX

Paris ~ Fife, Scotland

· Exhibition: slow Praxis

 
 

My first days back home in Scotland were spent at Tatha Gallery in Newport-on-Tay, helping with the installation of Slow Praxis (read more in my previous blog post). It felt fitting to work on this upon arrival, after the slow journey north and much time to reflect on my own practice and the theme of the exhibition. I’ve always strived to work slowly and patiently – many of my processes just don’t allow for any alternative – but the last two years have been so busy that finding the space to slow and fully immerse has been difficult. When there’s lots on, time seems to fly. After almost a month on the road, engaging with the work of my fellow exhibitors and cementing the concept of the show offered a chance to reboot, refresh.

For me, the process of gathering materials is equally as important as that of applying paint. So, the resulting artworks are layered, not only with paint, but with the memory of where the substrate was found, the traces of its past life.

 
 

The opening day: Slow Praxis

Slow Praxis | an exhibition visitor with Iain Stewart’s seascape photographs

David Cass
Journey for an Exhibition (ii)
Journey for an Exhibition (ii)
 

XI

Scotland ~ Brussels

· Jeu de Balle Flea Market
· Rue Blaes Antique Shops

 
 

With paintings delivered and exhibition installed, I collected further items and objects for the studio in Scotland and set off on my return journey to Greece. I took a different route, this time via Belgium so that I could visit Brussels and the Jeu de Balle flea-market. In late 2010 and 2011 I lived in Brussels, just ten minutes from this famous daily market. It was during this time that my love for gathering and use of found materials formed strong foundations. The vendors here mostly deal in house clearances and so you’ll find antique furniture alongside boxes of family photographs, collections of matchboxes, cameras, postcards, letters. I often wonder, when visiting markets like this, how it can be that there’s nobody to inherit these items? How boxes and albums of precious family history can be left out in all weathers for unknown tourists to rummage through. Just along from the market is the Rue Blaes, where every other shop is an antique shop. I spent a weekend ferrying bags of miscellanea between the market and my hotel.

 
 
 

XII

Brussels ~ Strasbourg

 
 

XIII

Strasbourg ~ Parma ~ Tivoli

 
 
 

I’m drawn to places with crumbling charm like Tivoli, just outside of Rome. I paint onto old doors and shutters, but I’m also inspired by peeling facades and faded paintwork. In my most recent abstract mixed-media paintings, my mark-making style aims to mimic these textures, informed by years of studying buildings like these close-up.

 
 
 

XIV

Tivoli ~ Ostuni

 
 
 

XV

Ostuni ~ Brindisi ~ Igoumenitsa

 
 
 

XVI

Igoumenitsa ~ Athens

 
 

I called this pair of blog posts Journey for an Exhibition in reference to Journey of an Artwork. That online exhibition describes the general creation process of an exhibition, from the flea-market to the studio, to the finished exhibition. These blog posts follow the delivery of an exhibition, and the gathering for another. In September 2024 I’ll present a solo exhibition in The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, using the materials gathered on this trip, and in America earlier this year.

 
 
David Cass
Slow Praxis
Slow Praxis
 

Slow Praxis champions the work of artists whose practices and processes follow a more unconventional path; who create works which encourage us to slow and take notice of the world around us. For many of these artists, the process of creation is perhaps equally as important as the final result. These artists go a step beyond, uncovering extra levels of depth, researching and then acting; and this attention to detail provides us, the audience, with the feeling that we can more easily enter into these works.

 
 
 

Tatha Gallery’s aim for this show was to explore the climate crisis. But, we wanted to approach the subject from an alternative angle. It’s impossible not to be aware of the plethora of issues we currently face as our planet’s average temperature gradually rises. Just look at the summer of wildfires we’ve witnessed around the world. Artists are in a unique position, able to highlight these issues but without leading us into despair. Instead, these artworks quietly suggest the need for a slower pace. If we are to move away from irreversible climate change, we must take our foot off the accelerator, notice and attend to the small changes in the natural world around us, exercise restraint as often as possible.

 
 

Stuart Cairns

David Cass

Roland Fraser

Jean Gillespie

Rita Kermack

Vivian Ross-Smith

Samuel Sparrow

Tim Steward

Iain Stewart

 
 

Above: Cass, Cairns, Sparrow, Gillespie, Fraser, Steward, Cermack, Stewart | All artworks © the artists, images by Cass

 
 
“Dear friends, would you look, only look, at what is here, and would you agree to astonishment, and to love? For love, allied to attention, will be urgently needed in the years to come”
— Katherine Rundell
 
 
 
David Cass
Curatorial Projects
Curatorial Projects

Over the last few years, I’ve added curatorial endeavours to my art practice, as my exploration of environmental issues has evolved. It’s my firm belief that if we are to step away from runaway climate change, this kind of collaborative and accessible creative exchange is vital. And, as I’ve talked about before, artists are in a unique position in being able to engagingly present climate data.

 
 

Points of Return

 

I’m recently back from the USA, where we presented the group exhibition Points of Return, a large scale exhibition discussing the climate crisis, at The Umbrella Arts Center in Concord, MA. The exhibition – which I co-curated with artist Gonzaga Gómez-Cortázar Romero – featured a versatile group of 27 artists, each offering perspectives on the state of our Earth. As the exhibition title suggests, our aim was to offer optimism, to highlight restorative strategies and sustainable pathways forward. We connected with hundreds of visitors through a series of tours, screenings, performances, talks and discussions.

Highlights include a day dedicated to Elizabeth Ogilvie & Robert Page’s project Into the Oceanic; a sound bath performance by Amy Duncan; an exclusive preview of Earthwatch founder Brian Rosborough’s Call of the Orcas (directed by Jessica Plumb); and, a lecture centered around the exhibition’s location by Dr Joseph Donica. Though now closed, you can still take a virtual tour of the exhibition online, and explore the dedicated webpage – which will be added to in the coming weeks.

Immediately upon returning I began working with Tatha Gallery (Fife, Scotland), collaborating on the curation of Slow Praxis, another environmental exhibition, this time presenting artists whose work encourages us to slow and take notice.

 
“As visually intriguing as the installations comprising ‘Points of Return’ [were], the narratives surrounding such thought-provoking work [were] equally fascinating.”
— Pamela Ellertson, Art New England
 
 
 
“Noticing the small changes requires the kind of communion that comes from knowing deeply … just when we needed to slow down and notice the subtle changes in the natural world that are telling us that something is seriously amiss, we have sped up, entered into the perpetual feed of the never-ending-now, slicing and dicing our attention spans as never before.”
— This Changes Everything, Naomi Klein 
 
 

Slow Praxis

 

I’m delighted to have been invited to co-curate – and exhibit in – this show, and to work with fellow artists I’ve long admired, including some whose works I’ve previously curated or covered: Vivian Ross-Smith (Coast, exhibition, 2019), Stuart Cairns (Coast, exhibition, 2019), Roland Fraser (Surface II, virtual exhibition, 2020), Tim Steward (A La Luz, article, 2020), Jean Gillespie (A La Luz, article, 2023), Rita Kermack, Samuel Sparrow, and my art school photography tutor Iain Stewart, whose work has been a huge influence on my own. Though focussed on the topic of climate change, this is not an exhibition of despair or sweeping gestures imploring desperately that we solve the climate conundrum, rather, it’s an exhibition about slowing down, living sustainably and within our means, using and re-using what we already have, observing, listening deeply, and importantly, exercising restraint – perhaps the most powerful achievable strategy we as individuals have at our disposal. Aristotle wrote: ‘what it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.’ If we are to have a chance of moving away from a future characterised by extreme weather events and biodiversity loss, we must be mindful of the long-term impacts of our actions on the world around us. We must, like the artists in this exhibition, approach from alternative angles and question established processes.

The content of the exhibition will remain under wraps for a few weeks more, but I will release my own inclusions: a new series of mixed media works painted onto repurposed industrial canvases and large-format nautical maps. View three below, and a further selection on this new webpage.

 
 
“We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake.”
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden
 
 

Selected Curatorial Projects: 2017 – today

Foreign Familiar 2017 (curator)

As Coastline is to Ocean 2019 (co-curator)

Coast 2019 (co-curator)

Surface (II) 2020 (curator)

The Sea from Here 2020 (curator)

Eight Posters for Glasgow COP26, 2021 (curator of digital submissions)

Points of Return (I & II) 2021 – 2023 (co-curator)

Window display of environmental books for The Concord Bookshop 2023 (co-curator)

Into the Oceanic: Double Screening 2023 (co-curator)

Slow Praxis 2023 (co-curator)

The Sea from Here (II) TBA (curator)

Points of Return (III) TBA (co-curator)

David Cass
Where Once the Waters: Concord, MA
 

On May 1st, Points of Return opened in The Umbrella Arts Center, Massachusetts (USA). I designed this exhibition with artist and long-term collaborator Gonzaga Gómez-Cortázar Romero, as part of our ongoing curatorial project A La Luz. Through dynamic display and crossing several artistic disciplines, this 27-artist show provides commentary, reflection, and creative restorative strategies in the face of the climate emergency.

By showcasing diverse perspectives, providing accessible data, and encouraging critical thinking, we hope to inspire a sense of possibility in this exhibition; a renewed commitment to shaping a better future. The artists involved have immersed themselves in jungles, marshlands, deserts, oceans and forests. They have researched and documented how even the most remote and inaccessible environments have the fingerprints of human activity. Through their immersion, they’ve become vessels for telling; for raising awareness and understanding.

My own artwork in the exhibition is an updated instalment of Where Once the Waters, first presented at last year’s Venice Biennale, focussed on the issue of rising sea levels.

In the United States, almost thirty percent of the population lives in relatively high population-density coastal land, where sea level plays a role in flooding, shoreline erosion, and hazards from storms. Globally, eight of the world’s ten largest cities are located near a coastline. Predicting exact levels of future sea rise around the world is difficult, but the facts are plain—sea levels will continue to rise at an ever faster rate with every passing year for many decades. It’s a process which is now locked-in. We cannot stop the rise, but we can take action now to limit the level the water will reach in decades (and centuries) to come.

The Massachusetts coastline is particularly vulnerable, with sea level up to 212mm (8.3 inches) higher than it was in 1950. The region has coastal wetlands and beaches that offer a level of protection to communities and wildlife, but these natural barriers are themselves at risk. One third of New England’s coastal wetlands have already been lost due to human activity, which makes preserving the remaining wetlands urgent. Furthermore, tidal flooding has increased by 333% across Massachusetts since 2000, rendering over 27,500 properties at risk.

When I last exhibited Where Once the Waters, a few exhibition visitors commented that “sea levels have always gone up and down…” And this is true. Over tens of thousands of years, they have. But levels are rising several times faster today than they have in the past three millennia as a direct result of human-induced global warming. We have accelerated what would have occurred naturally, which means we have significantly less time to adapt.

From 1870 to 1924 sea levels were rising at an average global rate of 0.8mm/yr. From 1925 to 1992 sea level rise more than doubled to 1.9mm/yr. From 1993 to mid-2012, sea levels were rising at a rate of 3.1mm/yr, and as of November 2022, NASA tells us that the average global rate of rise is around 4mm/yr. But the rate of rise is not evenly distributed around the globe. Some locations are experiencing more frequent inundation and severe coastal changes than others. Tide gauges around the world can reasonably chart trends in sea level, and it was data from these measurement devices that informed my letter-writing project.

This project looks back upon sea level changes which have already occurred, for unlike future predictions, these can be more accurately charted. Each letter offers “the reader” data relating to the shores which lie nearest their places of birth. This issue is often shrouded in complex science, but the opportunity to engage on a more individual level could be one point of return. Bringing home the data behind climate change lies at the core of the project and is indeed one key aim of the overall exhibition.

Our coastlines are windows to the past, present, and future. Being on the front-line, they are perhaps our clearest indicators of change. This project describes how they are retreating, eroding, sinking, and even lifting as water warms and swells, each letter offering figures (measurements) we might visualise.

 

The letters range in pace and tone, presented without apparent categorisation, for, this issue is not exclusive to any one location. The decision to use exclusively found, vintage materials provides one suggestion of how we can move forward: by caring for our resources and re-using what we already have. To further personalise the subject, the letters are typed onto familiar papers, those which would have accompanied people through their lives: correspondences, birth certificates, documents, wills, deeds… items which have lived through these changes in our waters. A wooden letter sits in front of the apparently unfinished installation, a suggestion that the issue (and the project) is ongoing.

David Cass
Contemporary
Contemporary

A Group Exhibition at The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2.2.23—25.2.23

100 Days

Installation designed by David Cass (2023)
Painted 2018–2022
Found antique metal tins & boxes up to ~130 years old

Now open at The Scottish Gallery, Contemporary includes seven versatile artists whose works explore contrasting elements of modern life, each with their foundation in the natural environment. I’m exhibiting a selection of one hundred “days” from my Where Once the Waters series – originally presented at the 2022 Venice Biennale as the portrait of one year at sea – alongside two seascapes painted upon antique canvas created during lockdown in 2020 and exhibited for the first time here. Two further pieces from my Rising Horizon series – the project that inspired Where Once the Waters – can also be found, and the gallery has a trio of gouache seascapes painted onto wooden drawers viewable upon request.

David Cass
The Year in Numbers
The Year in Numbers
 

This was perhaps my busiest year in the studio, as my exploration of environmental themes has deepened. The highlight of 2022—the highlight of my career thus far—was presenting Where Once the Waters at Venice Biennale. I consider the exhibition to have been a success, but it did of course come with its own set of challenges. The project has continued to grow, with additional features and reconfigured installations planned. This is an art project which reads best from a distance; it’s an ongoing pursuit, made from multiple parts.

Here’s a summary of the year in numbers.

 

25
Artists

2022 kicked off with the curatorial project Points of Return. Some of you may know, I co-run an eco-art initiative with artist Gonzaga Gómez-Cortázar. We share and curate climate focussed artworks in a blog and virtual gallery. Points of Return presents artworks by 25 international creatives, in a digital exhibition aimed at both raising awareness and offering nature based strategies which address the dreaded “point of no return”—the point at which irreversible climate change will be locked-in. The virtual exhibition will remain online indefinitely.

 

365 Seascapes
600 Letters

Discovering the opportunities we have within reach for combatting aspects of the climate crisis also lies at the core of Where Once the Waters. Here, the aim has been to invite people to reflect, on their own terms, upon the changes happening at places we may feel some connection to. I believe that we have a better chance of engaging with aspects of climate change if we can do this in a personal way. In this vein, in May I opened a small solo exhibition—principally discussing the topic of rising sea levels—at the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale. The exhibition comprised two installation artworks formed of many small parts. One group of Letters (typed antique papers addressed to people around the world) offered readers insights into our changing coastlines; while a group of miniature seascapes spoke of sustainability and the need to care for our resources. Over the course of its display, Where Once the Waters was well received by visitors and media, with regular exhibition tours and discussions. In time, I’ll digitise the Letters so that everyone can read them. You can also take part.

 

5
Letters

My aim is to further disperse the themes behind Where Once the Waters, and this means presenting offshoots of the project in different venues and formats. Five framed Letters were exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Show in London, some of which explained changes in the level of the River Thames. Just like our seas, rivers, estuaries and lakes will also be impacted as our planet’s global average temperature rises.

 

6 Days
9 Days
12 Days

A collection of 365 painted seascapes are included in Where Once the Waters, each named for a day of the year. The decision to paint one year of sea references the record breaking ocean temperatures we’re experiencing year-on-year. These have been split into smaller groupings and displayed with The Auction Collective, Tatha Gallery and the Fry Art Society. Each seascape has been painted onto an antique metal box or tin. Twenty are currently available for sale online. It is the sale of these works which funds my conceptual projects.

 

2
Billboards

So far over 600 Letters have been typed onto an assortment of found papers, addressed to people around the world, each offering a sea-level “reading”. These letters aren’t sent (at least not in their physical form), they’re added to a growing collection. A Letter to Rhea was enlarged and presented in billboard format in Brooklyn, New York, thanks to the I AM WATER campaign; a Letter to Mesi was digitally screened during COP27 in Egypt thanks to IkonoTV. This is a different way to present the information the letters contain, specifically addressed to locals. If we know what is happening locally, we stand a better chance of meeting that issue. Climate change shouldn’t feel “far off” and issues such as sea-level rise could impact us all, regardless of where we live. We need to be discussing this more.

 

10
Films

For the third time, I presented digital works during COP (the annual United Nations climate conference). This year I created a pair of new video artworks, each exploring localised variations in sea-level rise, contributing to the conversation started in Venice. These were screened in Sharm El-Sheikh in the COP27 Green Zone, and streamed online alongside eight other films. From January these will reside permanently on the IkonoTV website. IkonoTV shares an exciting variety of artists’ films. Currently they’re featuring Francis Alÿs’s Children’s Games, a standout series presented at Venice Biennale and perfect to enjoy over the holidays.

 

2
Books

As well as the book created to accompany Where Once the Waters, this year I featured in Out of the Box: A Celebration of Contemporary Box Art. This is a joyful publication, packed full of fascinating artists bound by a love of collecting.

 

100
Days

Looking ahead to next February, I’m excited to present a group of 100 miniature seascapes from Where Once the Waters as part of the Scottish Gallery group exhibition Contemporary. Further details will be announced soon.

Online exhibition Points of Return

Exhibition Where Once the Waters

Painted antique tins from a series of 365

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2022

Billboards: Brooklyn & COP27

Where Once the Waters book

Out of the Box book

100 Days destined for The Scottish Gallery

David Cass
Collecting is a Kind of Poetry
Collecting is a Kind of Poetry
“Collecting is a kind of poetry: it’s a shuffling around of objects and spaces until they make sense.”
— Edmund de Waal

I’m thrilled to be part of Tom Buchanan’s colossal project Out of the Box. A journey which started as a series of exhibitions has evolved into a weighty and beautifully composed art book. A compendium of creative works grouped together by the very nature that they themselves are groupings: artworks made from multiple parts, bound by a definite perimeter.

The book is truly a box within a box within a box. The author – an artist himself – has spent years collecting creatives whose works fit within the grand container of the project. No two the same. Simultaneously, he has collected his thoughts, gathering stories and remarks along the way (I particularly enjoy the de Waal quote above, taken from Buchanan’s preface, and Roger Ackling’s quiet reflection on my own page (p.27) that “rituals performed in private change the face of the world”) arriving at something which can only be described as a book to house the ultimate collection of collections.

“As a rule,” the author writes, “creatives tend to be voracious collectors. Seeking, locating, acquiring, classifying, cataloguing, storing, and displaying are all vital practices to aid the artistic soul. However determined these activities might appear to others, they provide some kind of ordered path through the everyday…”

I’m taken back to my pre-art-school self with this book, devouring its pages much as I did with Art Now and The Art Book. Books that you’d browse in order to help you understand yourself as a creative, what excited you. And I’m then transported to the artist I was soon after graduation, struggling to navigate post-art-school life, creating compilation artworks with old boxes and drawers as their frames, finding stability within a physical boundary, organising and ordering my collected artefacts in a way that did indeed help me find a path “through the everyday.”

“Maybe a box can help us let go, or allow us to question the very interior of things…”
— Tom Buchanan

I think more than anything else, I’m moved by this book because you can tell that the entire endeavour has been pursued with a heartfelt passion. This is more than a who’s who of box-artists, this is an artwork in its own right. And for me, the cherry on the top is that the author notes our “need to upcycle”, to use and re-use what we already have, what we can find, and how box-art plays perfectly to that sustainable brief (Mark Thurgood’s Collecting Yellow, captioned as “nearly all plastic waste found on one Cornish beach over ten years” is just one such example). Box-art, then, is “an alternative space, filled to the brim with potential…” (Sarah Lea: Box Art – An Art-Historical Context)

Pages 26 & 27 | Chapter I: Water | L: Matchbox Seascape (2020) R: So Many Endings (2012–13)

 
David Cass
Pairings

“Each painting contains a different body of water, where the horizon line, time of day, and weather conditions vary in every unique view”, writes Kate Reeve-Edwards in Where Once the Waters. “The painting process reacts and enhances the objects, working with them to create a new life […] A circular ecosystem of reuse and repair is what Cass is gently encouraging. The hand-held world of the tin is regenerated: these small objects which once contained tobacco, mints, or teabags now convey new, bigger ideas.” These artworks look to the past, to the years they’ve spent on this Earth. At the same time, they pay homage to the sea, a great muse to so many. They speak of function, process and time passing; of the tide that daily enters and exits Venice, as it has done for over a millennium. Find below a selection, photographed around Venice.

David Cass