User:MarcoBennizzi/sandbox

David Studwell

Born:	July 2nd 1970. Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Education: Central Saint Martins, London.

Known for: Printmaking, screen printing.

Notable work: ‘Elton John: Home Run Dodger stadium 1975.’ ‘Marilyn Monroe’ ‘Amy Winehouse’

Movement: Pop Art

David Studwell: born July 2nd, 1970 is a British artist known predominantly for printmaking; in particular screen printing. Studwell harnesses the spirit of the sixties and seventies, the cult of celebrity and the legacy of Warhol to produce iconic screen prints. His works explore the darker side of fame, nostalgia and Americana-police mug shots of well-known stars show them at their most vulnerable, or at their most defiant. Private moments of icons at screen tests or during reflection become graphically public, produced in bold and vivid colours. Some of his best known works include the screen prints; ‘Elton John: Home Run Dodger stadium 1975’ and ‘Amy Winehouse.’ Studwell collaborated with Sir Elton John and British photographer Terry O’Neill to produce the former work. Studwell has collaborated with a number of photographers including David Katz and Julian Yewdall.

Biography Born 2nd July 1970, in Yorkshire; Studwell attended school in the midlands and later moved to London where he studied art and design at Central Saint Martins. Keen to further develop printmaking skills learnt at art school; Studwell joined an open access print making studio in west London where he began producing screen prints. It wasn’t long before celebrity and Americana became important themes in his work, not content with the superficiality of fame he chose to also examine its darker side; evident in his celebrity mugshots, a series of silk screen prints. Studwell’s gaze focuses firmly on the past, notably the golden age of Hollywood and classic eras such as the sixties and seventies. He has chosen to reinvent the past with glorious washes of retro-colour in order to place them firmly in the present. Studwell's work focuses predominantly on celebrity and harks back to the 60's and 70's, a time he says when 'celebrity held a very different meaning.' His work; although nostalgic transports yesteryear stars and icons into the present with washes of retro colour; adding his own unique and modern stamp to each piece; in turn re-birthing the subject into the contemporary landscape.

Works

Screen prints.

During 2018 Studwell collaborated with Sir Elton John and photographer Terry O’Neill to produce ‘Elton John: Home Run: Dodger Stadium 1975.’ A small number of the prints were co-signed by Elton John and Terry O’Neill. A co-signed print was auctioned through the London Evening Standard and raised over £12k for Elton John’s Aids Foundation.

Studwell collaborated with partially sighted photographer David Katz to produce a series of screen prints of Amy Winehouse. The screen prints were a re-working of Katz’s photograph of Amy Winehouse taken in a Camden pub years earlier.

Julian Yewdall photographed ‘The Clash’ in their early days and was a member of the group the ‘101ers,’ Joe Strummer’s pre-curser to The Clash. Studwell collaborated with Julian to create a series of screen prints of Joe Strummer. The prints were a colourful re-imagining of an image of Joe Strummer backstage at the first ever Clash concert in London. Studwell added hand finished elements to the prints to create a true punk aesthetic.

Exhibitions

Studwell has exhibited in London, Germany, Italy and the United States.

Collectors

David Studwell’s work hangs in private collections worldwide and has been collected by Kate Moss, Nile Rodgers and Sheryl Crow.