Daniel Rapley

Member

Daniel’s practice broadly examines structures of authorship and value through strategies of appropriation and chance. His work is often articulated through extensive durational projects which abstract the artistic process. For example, the display of tens of thousands of Pomatias-elegans snail shells collected meticulously over a two-year period (Pomatias Elegans, 2016) or most notoriously, a hand-written copy of the entire King James Bible (Sic, 2012) Over the last several years he has been exploring the uncanny authorial entanglements produced through the appropriation of found photographic matter in his project Drift. This project uses a large archive of over 20,000 35mm slide transparencies sourced from various house clearances. Images are produced by photographing two slides stacked on a light box. In the moment of exposure, time, place, memory and authorship are compressed and conflated. This form of double exposure references historical analogue manipulation processes dating back to Pictorialism. But rather than the pursuance of realism, Drift instead reveals the seams of the process through its deliberate attempts to destabilise pictorial space. The materiality of the medium is of central concern to this project, which reflects on the illusory and malleable characteristics of photography and memory, revealing their elastic correspondences with reality.

Daniel received a 1st class Fine Art degree from DMU (2001) and a Masters Degree with distinction from Chelsea College of Art (2011). In 2012 he was shortlisted for the Catlin Award, showcasing the top 50 UK graduates. His work has been included in group shows at The Barbican, London, Club Solo, Netherlands, Olympic Park, Beijing and has been reviewed in Frieze, Artists Newsletter and New York Arts. His solo exhibition, Covenant (2012), with Payne Shurvell, London, received widespread critical acclaim. In 2018 he won a public art commission to create six flags for The Usher Gallery, Lincoln. His work is included in a recent book publication: Enough Is Definitely Enough by Andrew Bracey (2021, Beam Editions). He currently works between his studio at Backlit, Nottingham and his colour darkroom at home in Newark. He has worked as an Associate Lecturer on Fine Art and Photography BA programmes and is currently the Course Leader of the Art & Design Foundation Diploma at Lincoln College.