Filling
In The Gaps
Reconciliation can be defined as both the attempt to make one idea compatible with another, and the restoration of a relationship — an end to tumult and discord. As I consider the works of Dave Tweedy, it seems to me that these are paintings which express a longing for reconciliation; the works resonate with me as an expression of a familiar internal struggle, of reconciling two very different truths: that life is incredibly beautiful and yet also horrendously broken. Like looking at a shipwreck, we see hints or fragments of something glorious and attempt to fill in the gaps, to make sense of things.
My work examines memory, disguise, transformation, ritual and revelation in both personal and political arenas. It calls on and uses imagery from the media and other printed sources. Subjects include John F Kennedy’s assassination, Catholicism, Donald and Melania Trump, authoritarianism, Fascism, 1960’s TV cartoons, pop culture, children’s play and film. During Covid I began to re-examine family history, including the rituals and activities of seaside trips. Other works involved the rumours and false accounts of where Covid had originated and how it was spread, and the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury.
Selected Paintings
​Revelation in Disguise
​In Present : Past Dave Tweedy has developed an increasingly pictorial language within his paintings. Drawing — literally painting — from personal and common memory, Tweedy interweaves and overlays historical and contemporary signifiers to create new-found (dis-)orderings of reality. At these intersections of people and paint, abstract and figurative languages conflate; familiar imagery is altered, distorted and re-situated; and our attention is equally drawn to the textural qualities of the paint, as it is to the base imagery. Channelling a visual potpourri of references, the brazen indulgence and heroicism of 50s Hollywood cinema, the duotone graphic sensibility of Saul Bass’ silhouetted movie posters, the image of 70s pop legends Abba, and the spectacle of American politics past (and present) all compete in a medley of re-signification.
David Tweedy graduated from Newcastle University with a First Class Honours degree in Fine Art in 2013. He is a painter and has exhibited in the north east of England, as well as in London and Vienna. His works look at gatherings of people united in expressing a shared belief system and examine their organisation and movement within and through a particular environment. Tweedy was longlisted in the Aesthetica Art Prize and features in the accompanying publication of top 100 emerging artists from the international contemporary art world. We speak interview Tweedy about his practice to provide an insight into his working methodologies.
