David Mabb

Staff details

Position

Reader in Art and Programme Leader MFA Fine Art (Studio Practice)

Department

Art

Email

d.mabb (@gold.ac.uk)

Links

Instagram
@david_mabb

Academia.edu

David Mabb is an artist.

David Mabb is an artist who works with appropriated imagery to rethink the political implications of different aesthetic forms in modern art and design history. Recent work has focussed on the designs of 19th Century English interior designer, writer and socialist William Morris. Mabb’s interest in Morris stems from the social and political connotations of Morris’ work, the continued relevancy of Morris’ politics and the continuing market for Morris’ designs. Mabb’s interpretations or reconfigurations of Morris’ designs consider the relationship between Morris’ own thinking and other forms of cultural production.

Academic qualifications

BA Fine Art Goldsmiths College 1980
MA Fine Art Chelsea School of Art 1981

Teaching and supervision

MFA Fine Art

Featured publications

2014: 'David Mabb, Announcer’
Printed newspaper, produced in an edition 2000. Catalogue to accompany 'Announcer', Focal Point Gallery, Southend.

2008: ‘Commodity Form: Colin Darke, The Capital Paintings; David Mabb, Rhythm 69’.
Catalogue produced to accompany ‘Commodity Form’ at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast

2006: ‘Mabb: Art into Everday Life’
Catalogue produced for solo exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Vilnius, Lithuania

2005: ‘David Mabb: William Morris in Jaipur. The Work of Art in the Context of Hand-made Reproduction’
Catalogue for ‘William Morris in Jaipur, published by Nature Morte, New Delhi, India

2003: ‘David Mabb: A Factory as it Might be or The Hall of Flowers’
Catalogue published by Windsor Art Gallery, Ontario, Canada

Publications and research outputs

Show/Exhibition

Mabb, David. 2024. Sweet Briar Leaves (from the painting of the same name by David Mabb, 2001, painted by Rajendra Sharma, 2005). In: "Extempore 24", Tension Fine Art, London, United Kingdom, 22 February - 2 March 2024.

Mabb, David. 2023. 'Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful'. In: "Sieh einmal die schönen Blumen", Jägerschere gallery for contemporary art, Niederer-Fläming Germany, Germany, 7 May - 11 June 2023.

Mabb, David. 2023. ‘Lietuva’ and ‘The Benetton Shop' from 'Art into Everyday Life’. In: "Outsiders Look at Vilnius", National Gallery of Art, Vilnius, Lithuania, 7 April - 11 June 2023.

Exhibition Catalogue

Mabb, David. 2014. Announcer (broadsheet).

Drake, Colin and Mabb, David. 2008. Commodity Form.

Mabb, David; Jablonskiene, Lolita and Rees, Simon. 2006. Mabb: Art into Everday Life.

Artist's Book

Mabb, David. 2004. Furthermore … ‘a book of proposals’: Proposal for The Linosa Close Transitional Monument.

Conference or Workshop Item

Mabb, David. 2016. 'William Morris Goes Atomic: A Provisional Memorial to Nuclear Disarmament'. In: William Morris Goes Atomic: A Provisional Memorial to Nuclear Disarmament. William Morris Society, United Kingdom 3 December 2016.

Mabb, David. 2014. 'Legacies of Malevich Symposium: Abstraction then and Now'. In: Legacies of Malevich Abstraction then and Now. Camberwell College of Art, London, United Kingdom 23rd October 2014.

Mabb, David. 2014. 'But what does it mean to paint politically?'. In: Painting as Commitment. Firstsite, Colchester, United Kingdom 21 June 2014.

Art Object

Mabb, David. 2019. A pattern of life.

Mabb, David. 2016. A Provisional Memorial to Nuclear Disarmament.

Mabb, David. 2016. Maid with Two Squares.

Article

Mabb, David. 2021. Annotations on Historical Materialism Conference Posters. Folded Life, Talking Textile Politics,

Mabb, David. 2021. News from SOMEWHERE. The Journal of William Morris Studies, XXIV(1-2), pp. 88-94. ISSN 1756-1353

Mabb, David. 2020. Kehinde Wiley, The Yellow Wallpaper. Journal of William Morris Studies, XXIII(4), pp. 35-40. ISSN 1756-1353

Audio

Mabb, David. 2021. David Mabb selects The Internationale in 95 languages compiled by MandalorTeSiit.

Mabb, David and Carey, Brainard. 2015. David Mabb: Interview with Brainard Carey.

Book Section

Mabb, David. 2023. Dialectical Reversal in About Two Worlds. In: Sarah Horton and Victoria Mitchell, eds. Pattern and Chaos in Art, Science and Everyday Life: Critical Intersections and Creative Practice. Bristol: Intellect, pp. 222-228. ISBN 9781789388718

Mabb, David. 2020. William Morris and the Culture Industry: Appropriation, Art, Critique. In: Florence S. Boos, ed. The Routledge Companion to William Morris. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 227-258. ISBN 9780415347433

Mabb, David and Malik, Suhail. 2017. Art Teaching: Dialectics of Practice and Theory. In: Peter Sonderen and Marijn de Langen, eds. Theory - Arts - Practices. Arnhem: ArtEZ Press, pp. 69-81. ISBN 978-94-91444-39-5

Professional projects

David Mabb’s work has been exhibited in solo shows at Handel Street Projects, London (2016); William Morris Gallery, London (2015); Focal Point Gallery, Southend on Sea (2014); Delaware Centre for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington (2010); The Bluecoat, Liverpool (with Colin Darke (2009); Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (2006); Art Gallery of Windsor, Ontario (2003) and Oakville Galleries, Ontario (2000). He curated Utopia Ltd. (with Mary-Ruth Walsh) at Wexford Art Centre and the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, Ireland (2011) and William Morris “Ministering to the Swinish Luxury of the Rich” at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (2004)