de.li.ne.a.vit
David Alan Atkins
10th January - 28th February

Born in Manchester, the Miskin based printmaker and artist David Alan Atkins trained at Manchester High School of Art, Rochdale Art Collage and the University of Glamorgan.

Alan describes his work as being ‘inspired by the bizarre, the grotesque and surreal with touches of humour that can sometimes be described as barbed or dark. My influences range from the works of Bosch, Breugel and Goya to the illustrations of Brian Froud and Ian Miller, the books of Jack Vance, Mervyn Peake and Terry Pratchett to the plays of Shakespeare and the films of Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam.

Alan has exhibited in galleries throughout the United Kingdom and has had his work published in numerous publications. His work is held in private and public collections throughout the United Kingdom, Australia, America and Canada.

"Drawing is a fundamental discipline in art.
Renaissance artists drew cartoons prior to the painting of a mural or large canvas. Art schools have long used the drawing of ancient statues and sculpture as a way of learning and perfecting observational skills.

Drawing is the starting point for many diverse forms of creativity from painting, printmaking and architectural plans to preliminary sketches for 3-dimensional work or story boards for movies and animation. Drawing is a fine way to learn about the world around you.

To draw a thing is to see it clearer, to understand it more.

Drawing gave us Leonardo’s heads, Durer’s hands and Mickey Mouse.

Drawing can be fun.

The artworks in this exhibition have two things in common – they are all drawings (in one media or another) and they have all been born out of a sense of fun. Some of the works follow particular themes whilst other pieces literally drew themselves with the subconscious mind in the driving seat and a bit of lunacy as the passenger.

I have had great fun drawing them – now I’m off to water my platypus."