iNSiDE DAViD WiGHTMAN’S iMAGiNED WORLD: REiVENTiNG THE LANDSCAPE.

In the lead-up to his solo show at EDiT. Covent Garden, THiS MUST BE THE PLACE, we took a closer look at David Wightman’s artistic practice. Borrowing the title from the Talking Heads song, the exhibition promises to evoke a sense of belonging, familiarity, and the feeling of arrival. Wightman reimagines the tradition of landscape art by exploring composition, colour, and form. He conjures imagined landscapes that are at once fantastical and familiar, focusing on evoking emotion rather than depicting specific real-world locations. His works suggest that 'the place' may exist as much within us as it does around us.

THE DEETS:

Where? EDiT. Covent Garden, 69 Neal St WC2H 9DA

When? 30th October - 14th November with opening drinks from 6pm-8.30pm on Wednesday 29th October. Please R.S.V.P. at the bottom of this page :)

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David Wightman has a unique approach to creating his iconic landscapes, working not from real world places but from his imagination and understanding of composition, balance and colour. Creating both paintings and print editions, his intricate use of vibrant colours, hand-painted collages, and textured wallpaper elements come together to create landscapes that invite us into other worlds. While his landscapes may appear serene and meditative, they are born of a meticulous, highly personal process that combines nostalgia, experimentation, and a dedication to colour theory.

David works from his studio at home, a change from the huge industrial studio units he has worked in in the past. This change is what first got David interested in printmaking, as he can make his prints larger than his paintings and create more complex compositions. Embracing printmaking as a medium has allowed him greater experimentation with scale, complexity, and colour, while the continued development of his painting practice pushes him to explore and push the boundaries of texture. The shift of studio environment has also meant that David lives amongst his work, something he values greatly. He finds having the works around him creates a calming meditative environment, that in turn aids his creative practice.

"i NEVER THiNK TOO HARD ABOUT WHAT iT'S GOiNG TO BE FiRST"

- David Wightman on his sketching process

David’s artistic practice is rooted in painting and printmaking, with each piece beginning as a graphite line drawing. These initial sketches evolve into full paintings, which in turn serve as the basis for his prints, alongside the original compositions. Sketching first allows David to create a composition freely, and he finds this is the most organic way for his pieces to develop.

When painting, David can be playful, change his mind and adapt as he goes, but, whether sketching or painting, he’s always thinking about how all elements come together to form a harmonious whole. David Wightman’s work focuses on the physicality of space, how forms interact and how gaps can be just as important as the shapes themselves. His work has an architectural quality, he builds imagined worlds from the ground up.

"WALLPAPER: iT iNSTANTLY MADE ME THiNK OF HOME."

- David Wightman

David’s use of wallpaper has become a signature element in his practice, a technique he developed during his time at the Royal College of Art. While rummaging through the store room cupboard he found a roll of wallpaper, it reminded him of his childhood home in Greater Manchester. This personal connection to his roots is what sparked the creation of his wallpaper marquetry technique, where wallpaper fragments are hand-cut and collaged into his works. Now, far removed from his original discovery, wallpaper lends a tactile quality to David’s paintings, giving them a unique, organic feel.

David has not always painted his fantastical landscapes, he previously worked primarily as an abstract artist, but a visit to the 2002 exhibition The American Sublime at the Tate (now Tate Britain) which showcased 19th landscape painting in the United States changed his creative trajectory. These artists, working at a time when uncharted territory was still being explored, took creative liberties with their landscapes - making mountains taller, adding a lake where there was none. David tells us, “These American landscape artists, they were fanciful with how they portrayed landscapes, they were exaggerating.”

Colour is at the heart of David’s practice, and rather than getting ideas from the natural world, he credits colour and the interactions between different hues as being his major source of inspiration. The colours that dominate David Wightman’s landscapes may not exist in these forms in the natural world, but they present a world defined by his personal palette and appetite for experimentation.

David’s process is technical while also drawing on his intuition. He creates landscapes from planned graphite drawings, often mocking up images on Photoshop to test compositions and tonality and creating his paintings and print editions from there.

"THEY ARE JUST LiT BY iMPOSSiBLE LiGHTS, PEOPLE HAVE SAiD TO ME THEY LOOK LiKE THEY ARE LiT BY FLOODLiGHTS, LiKE THERE iS A STADiUM YOU CAN'T SEE"

- David Wightman

David Wightman’s landscapes are fictitious, but they feel incredibly familiar. Here at EDiT. we speak to our customers all the time about David’s work and every person is reminded of somewhere personal, and different. David’s landscapes have an ability to move past the limitations of what is real and remind us of the feeling of place. David’s choice of glowing, impossible light sources and his positioning of the viewer (as if we are floating in his landscape) creates a dreamlike mood. “I like the idea that my works take the viewer somewhere else,” he reflects. Even though they’re not real places, there is something escapist about them. And I would agree, David's art feels good for you - like fresh air.

David Wightman’s work is an invitation to experience the world through the imagination and nostalgia, a means of creative expression, and a refuge - offering visual escapism and quiet contemplation.

As he is a London based artist, we asked David what his favourite thing to do in the city is. He said that he and his wife, artist Fran Giffard, make time each week to go on a long walk through London, walking for as long as 15 miles. “London walks are underrated” he says “You learn the city in a completely different way when you walk it”.

David Wightman’s new paintings and prints reimagine the landscape as a destination, an escape, and a state of mind. He creates immersive worlds that are at once familiar and entirely fantastical. Through bold colours, intricate textures, and carefully considered compositions, Wightman renders mountains, valleys, and waters that do not depict any specific location but feel recognisable, like a half-remembered journey or a dream.

In this work, David prioritises the construction of space over a literal depiction of nature. His landscapes strike a balance between memory and imagination, inviting us to explore how a place can be both real and abstract, both physical and emotional.

R.S.V.P.

If you would like to join us for drinks on the 29th October to celebrate the opening of David's show please R.S.V.P. on the link below. By filling out the form below you consent to be added to our newsletter so we can keep you updated - you can unsubscribe at any time :)