Born in Cardiff in 1972, David studied art full-time first at Howard Gardens in Cardiff then at the Falmouth School Of Art And Design. During his degree studies, David tried a number of different mediums, but concentrated on developing his painting skills.

The artist would be the first to admit he took a chaotic approach to painting in those college years, a number of themes began to emerge. The work incorporated a number of mediums including montage, inks, oils, acrylics, found materials and more, and at times pushed into areas guided more by the college tutors than the areas David found personally satisfying.

Despite the chaos and experimentation of that period, the best of his work always returned to a figurative style based on a number of recurring and personal themes. Using his homeland of Wales as an inspiration, the paintings borrowed from partially remembered stories of childhood, the country’s folklore and ancient tales of giants and strange lands hidden beyond view.

These inspirations were then played through the filter of David’s inner-city working class upbringing, and the freedoms of childhood and an age before health and safety where back lanes, dock-side warehouses and derelict buildings were the playground him and his friends entertained themselves in.

Unsatisfied with the work he found himself doing at the end of his degree, David completely destroyed the bulk of the work he’d done, feeling the hand of the art college too heavily in both the mediums used, the size of the paintings made and the unfocused formal approach taken. In the period following, David worked on a number of paintings which further crystallized the style he wanted to develop and work in.