HAMPSHIRE.- A decade in the making, ‘Extinct’, now on view at Kiklo Spaces, presented by Loughran Gallery, is the childhood obsession contemporary artist Dave White always wanted to turn into a collection. Unfortunately, lockdown meant the body of work has never been displayed in full… until now.

Produced in secrecy over 18 months, ‘Extinct’ is the series White has spent all his life researching. In order to create it, he went back to the drawing board, filling dozens of sketchbooks working from skeletons and specimens. Underneath each painting lies the under sketch which forms the crux of these works, built up over many sessions these layers form the painting, giving it life and movement where there is none.

Like many youngsters, White has never lost his sense of wonder for dinosaurs and the scale of these works, some of which are over 7ft tall, and his use of rich expressive oils helps to create the same sense of drama and awe.

White says: “As a child I would endlessly draw them, visualising their movement. This series hopes to connect and resonate with the viewer, imprinting the beauty of what could be lost in our world today.

“For the past decade I have created works that focus on the inhabitants of the natural world, their beauty is something we take for granted in the abstracted world we live in. Their fragility and scarcity and their fight for survival has been the catalyst and focus of my work.”




Dave White is a contemporary British artist who dedicates his work to celebrating popular culture and interpreting emotive issues. White graduated with a BA (Hons) Fine Art (Painting) at Liverpool John Moores University and has enjoyed success from the inception of his career, with selection for the Northern Graduates exhibition at the Royal College of Art in 1994, while also debuting at Sotheby’s London and international art fairs.

White pioneered the ‘Sneaker Art’ movement in 2002, with the execution of pop art inspired sneaker oil portraits, leading to long-term collaborations with Nike and Brand Jordan which continue to this day. White is one of a handful of artists to have his own signature Jordan releases. In 2016 White collaborated on an international signature sneaker project with Size? x Nike for the Air Max 95 DW, depicting both the Rabbit and Fox artworks from the Albion collection. This was released with Size? in the UK, Beams Tokyo and Kith, New York with a bespoke T-shirt collaboration project. Phillips New York celebrated this project in its Tongue + Chic sneaker exhibition in 2018, hand picking 20 artists to celebrate, including KAWS, Hirst and Murakami. This exhibition recently went on to Phillips Hong Kong and Shanghai (at K11).

International exhibition career highlights to date include the People’s Square Exhibition Hall (Shanghai) | The Harris Museum | Stockport Art Gallery | Dia Art Centre (New York) | The Walker Art Gallery | Centre for Arts (Rotterdam) | Art Basel Week (Miami) | Truman Brewery (London) | Liverpool International Biennial of Contemporary Art | New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York) on the Project on Creativity with Chuck Close | Hospital Club Gallery (London) and the Goss Michael Foundation (Dallas) for MTV RE:DEFINE with The Future Tense | Solo exhibitions in London, Copenhagen and Los Angeles.

Other notable highlights include: a collaboration with MTV to customise an EMA Award for a charity auction in London, launching the Staple Clothing (NY) collaboration collection, BT ArtBox (London), a feature on The Brit List courtesy of Shortlist magazine and Harper’s Bazaar special art edition (Asia). Loughran Gallery exhibitions include the ‘Albion’ collection, featuring a customised E-Type Jaguar (a hand-painted commission), as featured on London Live television. FAD website described it as one of the top five exhibitions to see during Frieze week. The ‘Critical’ collection was the largest scale sell-out London solo exhibition to date.

While White has pursued many subject matters over the last 20 years, for the last decade he has been focused on environmental issues by promoting endangered species with his signature expressive portraits. With charitable collaborations and donations of work, he has supported Virunga National Park, Tusk, Rainforest Foundation UK and WildAid.

White created a hand-painted rhino for Tusk, which was installed for a month on New Bond Street in London and auctioned at Christie’s alongside works by Harland Miller, Marc Quinn, Gavin Turk and the Chapman Brothers. Most recently White was included in MTV RE:DEFINE Gala Auction at the Goss Michael Foundation, Dallas and had his debut solo exhibition in Tokyo with an accompanying collaboration with Atmos, Japan. Last year saw White’s work displayed at Christie’s Education Rooms during Frieze week with a subsequent auction at Christie’s in aid of WellChild.

Loughran Gallery
Dave White: Extinct
July 31st, 2023 - September 9th, 2023