Fragments of Urban Life and Expanded Landscapes

In the delicate balance between memory and observation, David Somerville crafts a visual

exploration of modern existence. Working from his London studio, the artist navigates the liminal

space between classical influences and contemporary fragmentation, reflecting our collective

quest for meaning in an increasingly complex world.

Somerville's practice emerges from a deeply intuitive process of layered construction and

selective erasure. Beginning with gestural underpainting that establishes the emotional

temperature of each work, he builds surfaces through successive applications of acrylic paint and

mixed media, allowing chance encounters between materials to guide his hand. This methodology

mirrors the fragmentary nature of urban experience itself—moments of clarity emerging from

accumulated impressions, half-remembered encounters, and the persistent hum of metropolitan

consciousness.

His urban subjects—solitary figures suspended within city scenes—embody a compelling

paradox that captures the essence of our time. These anonymous protagonists, rendered with

deliberate ambiguity, reveal a profound inner stillness amidst the relentless pace of contemporary

life. Through careful manipulation of scale and perspective, Somerville transforms mundane street

corners and transit spaces into theatres of psychological inquiry, where the viewer becomes

complicit in the quiet drama of modern isolation.

Parallel to this urban investigation, the artist reconstructs abstract landscapes drawn from

memories of rural environments—works that function as emotional counterpoints to the city's

geometric insistence. Here, Somerville employs a more liberated approach to mark-making,

allowing pigment to flow and settle according to its own logic, creating atmospheric fields that

hover between representation and pure sensation. These pieces serve not as nostalgic retreats

but as necessary breathing spaces within the larger conversation about place, belonging, and the

persistent human need for connection to the natural world.

Through this dual exploration of urban psychology and remembered landscape, Somerville maps

the psychological geography of contemporary existence, offering viewers a moment of

recognition within the beautiful complexity of modern life.