Artist: David KayeTitle: Flower CatSize: 90 x 90 cm (35 3/8 x 35 3/8 in.)Medium: Acrylic and Graphite on CanvasEdition: Original Year: 2023Notes: Signed, titled and dated on the reverse. Acquired from Sotheby’s. About: Born in Bradford, England in 1986, The time when cartoons were at their best and going to play out in the morning and not coming home till the streetlamps came on was the norm. From an early age I was drawing the cartoons and putting my own little twist onto the things they were doing. Fast forward 10 years and I’m in the middle of Afghan with the British army, I found time to burn in between patrols so started drawing again. I practiced drawing objects that was in magazines that had been send out to us and mixed it with a cartoon aspect of the things I used to draw when I was a child. When I left the forces, I found myself slightly lost and was told to turn to my creative side to help me. I started painting and this opened a new feeling of achievement and ambition. I took to the kitchen “that was my studio for a fair old while” and started painting portraits where I taught myself the techniques that are seen in my work today with the realistic aspects of some of the objects in my paintings. I also started adding hidden and visible emotions within them to acknowledge some of the things that I have felt or been through. The works are also heavily influenced by my daughter who loves everything a young girl should do like unicorns and everything magical mixed in with some of the toys that I grew up with. The figure that is in all the pieces is a childlike figure wearing a helmet with big glossy spheres attached and is usually accompanied by an animal or object that has a realistic aspect to it. Each piece seems to have its own personality and is executed with a realistic touch. David’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and has also had a printed publication with the ampersandpro and also had numerous successful print releases.
