David Carpanini NEAC PPRE RWA Hon RWS RCA Hon RBSA finds the core inspiration for his work comes from his birthplace in the Afan Valley.
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Artist Statement
The term painter-printmaker is, in David's case, absolutely correct. There is no order of importance; each method of pictorial resolution allows him to explore different aspects of his personal vision, which is almost exclusively concerned with that part of South Wales known as the Afan Valley and the place of his birth. The personal whys and wherefores of pictorial invention are always difficult if not impossible to pin down in words. David has stated elsewhere that one should never be puzzled by what to paint or draw. But for each of us there are certain scenes and subjects which more readily provoke the responses that eventually manifest themselves in pictorial form. Wales is a land of enormous contrasts and variety of scenery. There is something in the quality of light and atmosphere that arrests the eye and provokes the imagination.
David's inspiration lies in the contemplation of the familiar, he believes that man has a special bond, a special relationship with that part of Earth which nourished his boyhood and it is in the valleys and former mining communities of South Wales, scarred by industrialisation but home for a resolute people that he found the trigger for his creative imagination. David remains grateful for having been born there at a particular time in the history of those valleys and with a modest facility to record his reactions. The stark landscape and close knit, often claustrophobic social infrastructure are a fundamental part of his own background and he has attempted to use the natural drama of this location to explore aspects of the human condition such as fear, isolation, loneliness, brutality, dignity, pride and hope. These are concepts with which we can all identify regardless of personal circumstances or background. David's imagery is drawn from his background and experience because it is what he knows best. Inevitably there is the danger of nostalgic insularity. That is a problem all image makers working with such material have to wrestle with and often fail to master, but with a measure of critical awareness it is possible to go beyond time and place and touch a universal chord of human understanding.