David Lowther is the latest artist to exhibit at London Luton Airport’s Gateway Gallery.
David trained at Luton, Nottingham and Goldsmiths Colleges of Art and taught art in Bedfordshire for 25 years. He took early retirement from teaching in 2002 and has spent most of the time since then painting.
David says ‘This set of paintings is a combination of work freely based on Seamus Heaney’s poem "Storm on the Island." and on the line from the same anthology "All I have known is a door into the dark". I wanted to relate their evocation of man's struggle and vulnerability to a more personal interpretation of things being out of balance, threatened and disturbed. They have been developed from combinations and re-workings of small imaginative drawings and jottings, and have evolved into paintings which hover between reality and abstraction. They exist in an in-between place, on the edge of recognition, more ambiguous and interesting because of it, and more concerned with evoking different sensations and feelings. David’s work will be on show until the end of September 2010.
The Gateway Gallery has been delivered in partnership with the Luton Cultural Services Trust, with a view to creating exposure for local artists within the Airport arrivals area, as well as giving Airport passengers greater access to local artistic talent.
The Gallery is one of the many projects the Airport has committed to support as part of its Community Engagement Strategy. The Strategy sets out the Airport's formal commitments to the community up to 2012 and focuses on three action areas, 'A Better Environment', 'A Vibrant Neighbourhood' and 'A Growing Economy'.
Sian Pearce, London Luton Airport's Community Relations Executive said “We are delighted to give local artists the opportunity to display their work in the Airport, not only does it provide great exposure for the artist, it enhances the passenger experience”.