Beautiful People January-March 2007

David Hancock has a real affinity and empathy with young people, rooted perhaps in his own experience of adolescence. The title of the exhibition, Beautiful People, comes from a body of work that enabled him to consider ideas about portraiture. The work celebrates young people’s desire for individuality and aims to communicate their evolving identity, their growing sense of themselves and how they fit within society. Their experiences often reflect on a society that is hostile to them.

David acts as a collaborator, telling his characters’ stories with the hope of developing greater understanding. His large-scale photo-realist paintings often require his subjects to embark on the creative journey with him. They are drawn into his working processes, sharing their personal spaces and experiences.

His experience as a ‘Goth’ informs his practice as an artist, enabling him to draw on musical and literary references as well as the romantic and dramatic landscapes by the Pre-Raphaelites.