March 30 – May 4, 2019
Steve Turner is pleased to present Pearly Party, a solo exhibition by London-based Dominic Dispirito that celebrates the British working class and his upbringing in the heart of Cockney London. He will present paintings that depict “Pearly Queens,” Cockney characters who originated in Victorian London, who evolved from the Coster Kings and Queens, the elected leaders of London’s street hawkers. Benevolent societies developed to aid the less fortunate, and parades were staged in which the “Pearlies” dressed in elaborate clothing that they adorned with rows and rows of mother-of-pearl buttons.
Dispirito has updated his Pearly Queens by using new technologies and materials. He begins by using various iPhone apps to create drawings and animations that he transforms into actual paintings. In some, he uses plastic 3D modeling paste to build up thick textures on small panels. In others, he applies thin layers of acrylic on stretched linen.
Dominic Dispirito (b. 1982) earned a BFA from Middlesex University, London (2013) and an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London (2017). He has had a solo exhibitions at The Dot Project, London and Annka Kultys Gallery, London. Pearly Queens is Dispirito’s first exhibition with Steve Turner and his first outside Great Britain.
Born 1982 in London
Lives and works in London
Education
2017 MFA in Painting, Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, London
2013 BFA, Fine Art, Middlesex University, London
Selected Solo
2019
Pearly Party, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
2018
In the Garden, Council Housed and Violent, Annka Kultys Gallery, London
Selected Group
2018
I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that, curated by Bob Bicknell-Knight, Arebyte Gallery with isthisit?, London
Material Art Fair, Annka Kultys Gallery, Mexico City
CACOTOPIA 02, Annka Kultys Gallery, London
Bound, Peer, London
2017
Candy, The Dot Project, London
GIFC, curated by Charlie Roberts, touring exhibition including Art Athina Fair in Greece, Macaulay & Co Fine Art in Vancouver, B.C., Soulland in Denmark, The Hole in NYC, Rod Bianco Gallery in Oslo, Gallery Steinsland Berliner in Stockholm, 0-0 LA in Los Angeles, Atlanta Contemporary, R/SF Projects in San Francisco, Mass Gallery in Austin, TX, NADA Art Fair in NYC, David Risley Gallery in Copenhagen, Drugstore KC in Kansas City
The Politics of Too Many Rubbish Dinner Parties, Chalton Gallery, London
Slade School of Fine Art MA/MFA/PhD Degree Show: Faith, Slade School of Fine Art, London
2016
Slade School of Fine Art MA/MFA Interim Show, Slade School of Fine Art, London
2013
Middlesex University Degree Show, The Truman Brewery, London
Selected Bibliography
2018
Halls, Eleanor. “When will we give working class creatives the support they deserve?’ British GQ, October 27
Moe, Karen. “Mexico City’s International Celebration of Art: ZONA MACO and the Material Art Fair 2018” White Hot, February
2017
Kostarias, Yannis. “Dominic Dispirito’s digitally influenced imagery challenges the traditional art standards” Art Verge, December 8
Nafziger, Christina. “From iPhone image to 3-D printed drawing: the art work of Dominic Dispirito” Art Maze Mag, November 30
Beardsworth, Bee. “Sweet & Sour: a review of The Dot Project’s ‘Candy’ exhibition” Teeth Magazine November 6
Irving, India. “17 Up-and-Coming Artists on Instagram Who Could Make You Rich” The Culture Trip October 25
“5 Art Awards & Prizes To Know About” Something Curated, October 24
“Artists Cristina BanBan & Dominic Dispirito Exaggerate Modern Day Banalities in New Show, ‘Candy’” Amadeus Magazine, October 4
Watkins, Holly. “Dominic Dispirito”, October
Bingham, John. “Dominic Dispirito”, October
Jones, Dylan. “The painter’s touch screen” British GQ, September
“Dominic Dispirito Selected for the Adrian Carruthers Studio Award 2017-2018”, Acme Studios, July 13
“Degree Show Highlights: Slade School of Fine Art”, Elephant Magazine, June 16
Awards, Grants, and Residency
2017
Adrian Carruthers Studio Award, ACME Studios, London
Bruce Maclean Prize, Slade School of Fine Art, London
Nominated for the Boise Travel Award, UCL, London
