Daniel Crews-Chubb (b. 1984, Northampton, England; based in London, England) makes compelling works that employ a traditional expressionistic, painterly language amid a conceptual framework investigating the potency of the iconic image and the dramatic dynamism of historic and contemporary visual language. Contending with his primary influences of ethnographic art, ancient rituals, social media and Modernism’s artistic legacies, he creates organically progressive quasi-figurative paintings in series which rely on a group of constructed historic or mythic characters for the work’s narrative, but are primarily conduits for abstract mark-making, in what Matthew Collings has called “a musical abstraction of textures and contrasting positive and negative space.”
Crews-Chubb's work is represented in the permanent collections of The Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria; Denver Art Museum, Denver CO; The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford UK; The Long Museum, Shanghai, China; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL; The Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection New York, NY; The Bunker Art Space, West Palm Beach, FL; The CC Foundation, Shanghai, China; Aurora Art Museum, Shanghai, China; Hall Art Foundation, New York, NY; Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; Chu Foundation 譽婷堂, Hong Kong; Deighton Family Collection, London, UK; Space K, Seoul, South Korea; Taylor Collection, Denver, CO; Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, China and Modern Forms Collection, London, UK. He studied at Turps Art School, London, UK and Chelsea College of Arts, London, UK. He was awarded the Beers Contemporary Award for Emerging Art in 2014.
Daniel Crews-Chubb
Immortal XXIV (petrol blue and Naples yellow), 2023
Oil, acrylic, charcoal, spray paint, ink, sand and collaged fabrics on canvas
82.68 x 59.06 x 1.97 in (210 x 150 x 5 cm)
Daniel Crews-Chubb
Immortal XIX (pink), 2023
Oil, oil bar, acrylic, ink, spray paint, charcoal, sand and collaged fabrics on canvas in oak frame
82.68 x 59.06 in (210 x 150 cm) unframed
84.25 x 60.63 in (214 x 154 cm) framed
Daniel Crews-Chubb
Study for Immortal with tilted head, 2023
Charcoal, acrylic, oil pastel, pen, spray paint, ink and sand on paper
30.375 x 22.5 in (77.2 x 57.2 cm) unframed
35 x 27.25 in (88.9 x 69.2 cm) framed
Daniel Crews-Chubb
Three Immortals (petrol blue and mustard yellow), 2023
Oil, acrylic, spray paint, charcoal, ink, sand and collaged fabrics on canvas in oak frame
98.43 x 157.48 in (250 x 400 cm) unframed
100 x 159 in (254 x 403.9 cm) framed
Daniel Crews-Chubb
Study for twisted figures III, 2023
Charcoal, acrylic, oil pastel, spray paint, ink and sand on paper
44.5 x 30.375 in (113 x 77.2 cm) unframed
49.25 x 35 in (125.1 x 88.9 cm) framed
Daniel Crews-Chubb
Immortal XII, 2022
Oil, acrylic, oil bar, charcoal, ink, spray paint, sand, coarse pumice gel and collaged fabrics on canvas in oak tray frame
86.75 x 67 in (220.3 x 170.2 cm) unframed
87.75 x 68 x 2.5 in (222.9 x 172.7 x 6.4 cm) framed
Daniel Crews-Chubb
Flowers 22, 2021
Oil, acrylic, oil pastel, charcoal, ink, sand, spray paint, corse pumice gel and collaged fabrics on canvas
39.37 x 27.56 in (100 x 70 cm)
Daniel Crews-Chubb
Couples 2 (teal, pink black), 2021
Oil, acrylic, pastel, ink, charcoal, spray paint and collaged fabrics on canvas
82.68 x 62.99 x 1.38 in (210 x 160 x 3.5 cm)
Daniel Crews-Chubb
Immortal XIV, 2023
Oil, oil bar, acrylic, charcoal, spray paint, ink, sand and collaged fabrics in oak frame
83.46 x 60.24 x 2.375 in (212 x 153 x 6 cm)
Daniel Crews-Chubb
Flowers 27 (pink and green), 2022
Oil, acrylic, oil bar, charcoal, ink, spray paint, sand, coarse pumice gel and collaged fabrics on canvas
62.99 x 47.24 in (160 x 120 cm)
Daniel Crews-Chubb
Couples 1 (red), 2021
Oil, acrylic, pastel, ink, charcoal, spray paint and collaged fabrics on canvas
82.68 x 62.99 x 1.38 in (210 x 160 x 3.5 cm)
Daniel Crews-Chubb
Giant (electric pink, white, yellow, blue), 2022
Oil, oil stick, acrylic, pastel, ink, spray paint, coarse pumice gel and collaged fabrics on canvas
98.43 x 78.74 in (250 x 200 cm)
Daniel Crews-Chubb narrates this tour of his exhibtion Solitary Us: Couples Paintings at Roberts Projects, July 10 - August 14, 2021. Featuring nine mixed-media collage paintings, this new body of work, produced during the lockdown period in the UK amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, continues Crews-Chubb’s exploration of human relationships and are self-reflective and reactionary to the sense of isolation the artist experienced at the time.
Daniel Crews-Chubb gives a tour of his South London studio in this video offering an intimate glimpse into the mixed-media artist's work and the artist's upcoming project Chariots commissioned by English Heritage to be on view at Wellington Arch.
By Cathy Fan
The London-based painter Daniel Crews-Chubb (b. 1984) makes his first major museum solo debut at the Long Museum in Shanghai, which will feature more than 30 works from two pivotal series that delve into the evolution of figurative representation across history. Known for his dynamic and vibrant compositions, Crews-Chubb creates chimerical figures through a complex, intuitive process involving painting, drawing, and collage. He employs spontaneous methods of applying paint—such as spilling, throwing, and spraying ink and pigment—to create a lively base that brings his figures to life.
Opening on 7 November, the artist’s first major solo museum exhibition will centre on two series that explore representations of the figure across history, featuring more than 30 works, including 9 works from the series that gives the exhibition its name and 5 new paintings from the Out of Chaos series. Crews-Chubb’s vibrant, turbulent compositions of chimerical figures emerge from a laborious process of intuitive painting, drawing, and collage. Working from his subconscious, he uses aleatory methods of paint application—spilling, throwing, and spraying ink and pigment—to create a dynamic ground from which he coaxes figures.
By Lita Barrie
One of the first galleries in L.A. to focus on African-American artists like legends Betye Saar and Kehinde Wiley, Roberts Projects has continued to represent significant black artists and help them develop their careers – from the emerging to the established. This tightly-curated selection of works subvert the meaning of “oasis” from diverse perspectives exploring the relief we seek from hardship.
Roberts Projects is pleased to present a tightly-curated selection of works that interpret and subvert the meaning of 'oasis' from a diverse range of perspectives. Works by contemporary artists including Amoako Boafo, Daniel Crews-Chubb, Suchitra Mattai, Collins Obijiaku, Ed Templeton, and Brenna Youngblood conjure sensations of relief that nurture the human spirit while contemplating the hardships from which we seek refuge. Major hishlight sof the booth include Betye Saar's Oasis and Suchitra Mattai's between oceans.
The book coincides with the first Ashmolean NOW exhibition which opened, July 2023. This first exhibition in the Ashmolean Now Program presents two linked solo shows: paintings/drawings by Flora Yukhnovich, and paintings/drawings by Daniel Crews-Chubb. The double-sided style of the book will mirror the exhibition concept, while presenting itself as a unique, well-designed object that has a life beyond the exhibition.
This summer, the Ashmolean launches its contemporary exhibition series Ashmolean NOW. The museum’s Gallery 8 will become a laboratory for contemporary artists who have been invited to create new work inspired by the Ashmolean’s historical collections.
The most exciting rising stars in contemporary art – who’s who and what’s next – featuring 107 artists born since 1980, as chosen by a new generation of art experts and leaders. This stunningly illustrated survey brings together more than 100 of the most innovative and interesting contemporary artists working across all media and spanning the globe. These are tomorrow’s art superstars as chosen by the future leaders of the art world: the curators, writers, and academics with their fingers on the pulse of contemporary art and culture. Published by Phaidon Books.
Daniel Crews-Chubb gives a tour of his South London studio in this video offering an intimate glimpse into the mixed-media artist's work and upcoming project Chariots commissioned by English Heritage to be on view at Wellington Arch.
Daniel Crews-Chubb "Statuesque" at Roberts Projects (Sep 16, 6-8pm): The artist has developed a powerful visual language connecting sources of inspiration from fearsome Aztec deities to Henry Moore’s deconstructed reclining women, reflecting on our obsessive repetition of the human form in sculpture.
By Jenna Adrian-Diaz
The London-based artist’s work defies easy categorization. Sometimes described as collage or mixed-media painting, Crews-Chubb’s compositions layer charcoal, ink, fabric, and, yes, paint. In his latest exhibition, he turns to textural impastoed oil, canvas strips, neon spray paint, and pumice to reflect on how the human form is replicated throughout history in everything from Italian Renaissance paintings to historical monuments. Through seven massive, mixed-media paintings and six paper studies, he reimagines iconography on his own terms.
Roberts Projects is pleased to announce "Statuesque," Daniel Crews-Chubb’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. Comprising seven ambitious mixed-media paintings and six studies on paper, the show presents a wide-ranging exploration of the artist’s relationship to historic artifacts.
At this year’s online edition of Frieze New York, Daniel Crews-Chubb’s solo presentation with Timothy Taylor was among the few booths to entirely sell out during the fair. In fact, most of the British painter’s textured canvases found buyers in the first hour of the fair’s VIP preview. Last November, Crews-Chubb boasted another sold-out booth with Vigo Gallery at the Shanghai-based art fair Art021. Again, the artist’s buyers represented the top echelon of collectors—the Long Museum acquired one work from the fair, while the co-owners of Art021, Kylie Ying and David Chau, snapped up another.
The British artist's first New York exhibition opens this month at Timothy Taylor with a series of new, heavily impastoed paintings. “This process allows me to edit quickly and change my mind,” says London-based artist Daniel Crews-Chubb as he rips a piece of cloth off one painting and staples it to another. His process is both fast and slow as he laboriously dyes and stains canvases, cuts, tears, staples, and stretches, then smears on paint and line draws with charcoal.
By Julian Langham
Filmed at Daniel's studio in London ahead of his exhibition in New York for Timothy Taylor.
By Annabel Osberg
Daniel Crews-Chubb’s paintings comprise enthralling convolutions of historic imagery, digital culture, and art historical modes of representation. Ancient iconography mingles with mid-century expressionism and contemporary smartphone self-portraiture in the British painter’s show titled “Chariots, Beasts and Belfies” at Roberts Projects. Like weathered walls bearing heavy layers of graffiti, grime and whitewash, these paintings manifest labyrinthine webs of fascinating and problematic societal carryovers from a spectrum of previous eras and cultures.
By David Pagel
The way people talk about art today is more comical than ever before.
Academic critics wax poetic about art’s subversive powers, primarily as they align with French literary theory from the 1960s. Others, who believe that culture can be owned, treat meaning as if it can be controlled; they fret about artists riffing off others.
By Laura Connelly
Featuring 13 trailblazing contemporary artists, Iconoclasts is a new exhibition set to open at London's Saatchi Gallery on 27 September 2017. Its theme is to explore experimental and unusual image-making practices.
By Georgina Adam
The madness that is Art Basel Miami Beach and its myriad associated events, pop-ups, satellites, performances, installations and, of course, endless parties, continues this weekend, with the main fair closing on Sunday. Compared with its early years, Art Basel Miami Beach has changed considerably. It was previously often about flashy bling — mirrored works, rhinestone-studded art, and lots of bright pink. No more. This year’s edition is far more sober, with a number of works referencing politics.
By Lorena Muñoz-Alonso
This edition achieves a perfect balance between global and local art. Today, the 10th edition of the fair Contemporary Istanbul (CI) opens its doors to the public, gathering 102 galleries from 24 countries, and welcoming 23 new entries. CI is the older of the two fairs that now take place in the stunning city. Since Art International entered the picture in September 2013, the two fairs have been enmeshed in a tug of war over the top position in the Turkish art market.
