David Tremlett

David Tremlett (born February 13, 1945) is a Cornish sculptor, installation artist and photographer. He currently lives and works in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, Great Britain.

Biography

Tremlett was born in Sticker, near St Austell, Cornwall where he grew up on his parents' farm. He attended Falmouth College of Art from 1962 to 1963, before studying sculpture at Birmingham School of Art from 1963 until 1966 and then at the Royal College of Art in London.^[1] He travelled from the early 1970s in North America and Australia and from 1978 to 1987 in the Middle East and Africa.

His first solo exhibition was with Nigel Greenwood Gallery in London in the early seventies, where he rose to prominence alongside artists such as Richard Long and Gilbert and George.^[2] Tremlett was already making wall drawings at that time — his first was in 1969. Since the 1980s, his primary media has been pastel, of which he says: "It is a fragile, delicate powder, so light that you can blow it away, but at the same time you can make something strong, demanding, and structurally tough." Like his material, Tremlett's wall drawings vary between fleeting and enduring. Despite the time and attention required by all of his site-specific works, Tremlett does not limit himself to locations that will ensure permanence. Indeed, many of his wall drawings exist for only a short period of time before they are weathered by natural elements or painted over in preparation for the next gallery show.

Though the drawings themselves may disappear, the experience of creating them is a lasting one for the artist. Forms found in the architecture of a space or in the play of light on a wall may be echoed in the geometric compositions of future drawings. Tremlett's palette has also been influenced over the years by his travel to execute site-specific works in places such as Malawi, India, Italy and Texas. The drawings bring beauty to the chosen locations, and in turn, the locations contribute to the beauty of Tremlett's drawings.

In 1992 he was shortlisted for the Turner Prize "for his many wall drawings displayed around the world, most notably at the Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hanover."

Since the late 1970s he has been creating wall drawings notably at the British Embassy in Berlin (his largest to date 16 x 46 meters), the British Council Building in Nairobi and the Capella Delle Brunate at La Morra, Barolo with his friend Sol LeWitt. His stained glass windows for the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Villenauxe-la-Grande in France were completed in 2006.

Tremlett has exhibited internationally in private galleries and major museums with 10 catalogues and several artist books to his credit. His extensive exhibition history includes solo exhibitions at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Musee des Beaux Arts, Grenoble, Pecci Museum, Prato, Italy and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Gallery

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  Capella Delle Brunate, La Morra, Barolo, Italy, 2008

References

1. ^ "David Tremlett born 1945". Tate Collection. http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=2064&page=1&sole=y&collab=y&attr=y&sort=default&tabview=bio. Retrieved 2008-01-21. 
2. ^ "DAVID TREMLETT: Drawing, May 1 - 29 2004". GERING & LóPEZ GALLERY, New York. 2004. http://www.geringlopez.com/exhibitions/2004-05-01_david-tremlett-drawing/pressrelease/. Retrieved 2008-07-08. 

External links

• David Tremlett :: Drawings for Spaces
• David Tremlett at Gering & López Gallery
• Artforum International Magazine

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Name	Tremlett, David
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Date of birth	February 13, 1945
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