David Spiller

A veteran of the British Pop Art movement, David Spiller (1942-2018) grew up in its defining period. Juxtaposing pop culture with urban sensibilities, Spiller created his own style of fine art that is distinctly “David Spiller.” As Martin Gayford wrote in the catalogue essay for Spiller’s 2008 exhibition at Beaux Arts London:

Spiller’s pictures are much more than simply messages. A lot of them are also, an art historian might say, complex colour-field abstractions. … To make works of this type, Spiller uses a technique that is, as far as I know, unique. He ‘floats’ the pigment onto pieces of canvas that he then sews together with incredible neatness and precision, so the final work is a sort of combine, made not with glue, like a collage, but with needle and thread. … No one has ever, as far as I know, fitted geometrically precise square and oblongs of colour together in this fashion, like a precision-engineered quilt.

Spiller’s place as an acclaimed artist was not achieved by happenstance. He was trained in fine art and an early student of Frank Auerbach. He studied at the Sidcup School of Art (1957), Beckenham School of Art (1958-1962), and the Slade School of Fine Art (1962-1965). During his distinguished career, Spiller had solo exhibits in over 10 countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain, and the United States). His work was exhibited at notable institutions such as the Ratingen Museum and Mannheim Kunstverein (Germany), Museum van Bommel van Dam and Museum Utrecht (Netherlands), Museum Espace Belleville and Artcurial (Paris), the Royal West of England Academy (UK), and the Cornell Museum (Florida, US). His work is also in important public and corporate collections including Hanwon Museum (Seoul), Foundation Carmignac Gestion (Paris), Harley Gallery Welbeck, Collection UCL, Morgan Stanley (Frankfort), and Belgacom Brussels. Important private collections (some available on request) also contain works by the artist.

When asked about his art, Spiller has said, “I really want to make paintings that put some magic on the wall. Some of them are straightforward things. Some are wild things. But underneath, it says ‘I love you.’”