User:Dasparoo

Dave Shortland     Artist

Born November 5th.1951,at Kowloon Hospital,Hong Kong. Father,Ken Shortland serving in the Royal Artillery Regiment,stationed at Hong Kong. Moved to West Germany late 1952,then to Newcastle upon Tyne,England late 1959. Attended Rutherford Grammar School 1963-1969,influenced by art teachers Ned Gedling and June Scott. October 1969 accepted into Bath Lane School of Art (now demolished).After 2 years left to pursue a career as a commercial artist. Painted murals on the interior of the infamous Oz Records (now obliterated). A lack of regular work led to a temporary job as a postman in 1973; a job that lasted 36 years. Any artwork was confined to "hobby" status until a visit to the Laing Art Gallery ( Newcastle) in 2006. There as part of an exhibition was a work by Picasso.........or be exact,graffiti by Picasso; it was in his 3 dancers style,and had been painted on what looked like the side of a shed (perhaps he was just cleaning his paintbrushes and decided to doodle,or just trying out an idea).Needless to say,someone cut it out and passed it off as a work of art by Picasso. I found this incredulous and unworthy of inclusion in a collection of pieces by famous artists. It was then that I decided that I had it in me to produce work worthy of inclusion to such a collection,namely,a painting on canvas. At this point I set myself the task of producing 50 canvases. June 2009 took early retirement from the Post Office and devoted my full time to painting.

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