Ian Davenport was born in Sidcup, Kent. He studied at Northwich College of Art and Design and undertook postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1991 he was short listed for the Turner Prize. The artist has said that his work is an investigation of processes exploring the different properties of paint. Pieces are often conceived and made in large numbers and achieve their most powerful effect when displayed as a group, in an installation.

Glossary

  • Design

    The arrangement of elements or details in an artefact or a work of art.

  • Installation

    An artwork comprised of many and various elements of miscellaneous materials (see mixed media), light and sound, which is conceived for and occupies an entire space, gallery or site. The viewer can often enter or walk around the installation. Installations may only exist as long as they are installed, but can be re-created in different sites. Installation art emerged in the 1960s out of Environmental Art (works of art which are three-dimensional environments), but it was not until the 1970s that the term came into common use and not until the late 1980s that artists started to specialise in this kind of work, creating a genre of ‘Installation Art’. The term can also be applied to the arrangement of selected art works in an exhibition.