David Price: Dreamland

In his third solo exhibition at Art First, Price presents a new series of works in which he re-imagines Piranesi’s illustrations of ancient Rome as a corrupted amusement park called Dreamland.

In 2012 Price moved his studio to Margate, home of the real Dreamland. Fascinated by the ruined remains of a resort that in its heyday had been modelled on a park of the same name in Coney Island USA, he found a metaphor for the degraded concept of the ‘American Dream’ that once symbolised the hopes of a generation in a bright Modern future, where everyone could enjoy the rewards of labour and democracy.

In our current social and political climate the dream of a democratic, meritocratic utopia has crumbled along with the Dreamlands built to symbolise them. Price’s work privileges a choreography of architectural frag-
ments that expose humanity’s complex relations with the built environment and renders quiet, intimate, beatific scenes with apocalyptic significance.
Price’s studies in printmaking at the RCA (2006–9) continue to inform his primary practice of painting where each colour is painted separately, unmixed, directly onto the gesso surface. The brilliance and clarity of his imagery release astonishing details that delight the viewer only after careful observation.