Derek Dickinson is a British artist whose practice centres on the emotional landscapes of fragility, resilience, and the subtle pressures that define human experience. Influenced by the biographies and inner lives of performers — including Vaslav Nijinsky — Dickinson’s work translates psychological movement into pared-back, quietly poetic forms.
Working with muslin fabric, acrylic paint, and a language of stripes, thresholds, and compressed colour, his paintings explore the tension between stillness and internal motion. His recent Traverse series reflects a deeply personal passage through states of constraint, vulnerability, and renewal, drawing on his own past experiences with sensitivity, mental health, and addiction.
Minimal yet emotionally charged, Dickinson’s work creates a contemplative space where viewers encounter both turbulence and calm — the delicate balance of simply enduring.
Traverse
This new series of contemporary paintings, entitled Traverse, continues a thread from the previous figurative studies, where the body carried tension, weight, and emotional complexity. In this new series, that same sensibility shifts into a more abstract language — colour and line now take on the role that the figure once held. Bands press against one another, delineating space yet never quite settling, echoing the push and pull of muscle, movement, and held emotion.
The interplay of dense, weighted hues with sharp, linear accents evokes both boundaries and possibilities, much like the internal pressures explored in the earlier work. Beneath the formal clarity lies an undercurrent of quiet containment — a reflection on restraint, order, and the unseen edges we navigate within ourselves and our environments.
Traverse
on canvas
Traverse
on paper
Figurative Studies
This body of work explores the complexities of the human condition through textured, abstract forms that lean toward the figurative. Influenced by my time working alongside performative artists, I began to reflect on the emotional and physical dedication embedded in their practice. This led me to the life and writings of Vaslav Nijinsky, whose vulnerability and struggles with mental illness offered a profound lens through which to consider the human experience.
Using muslin fabric and acrylic paint, I shape distorted, flowing forms that suggest both body and movement. The surfaces evoke tension and fluidity, echoing the intensity of performance while inviting viewers to contemplate the fragility and resilience of the human mind. Minimalist in palette yet rich in texture, these works balance stillness with motion, intimacy with distance—becoming quiet studies of our shared emotional landscape.
Figurative Studies
Available
Figurative Studies
Archive
Biography
Derek Dickinson (b. 1960) is a contemporary painter and visual artist from southwest England. His early career in London’s creative industries — spanning film, photography, television, music videos, and performance — shaped a multidisciplinary perspective that continues to inform his practice. With a background in design, styling, and artist management, Derek developed a deep understanding of visual storytelling and performance, experiences that later became central to his artistic voice.
Returning to the South West, Derek pursued formal training in fine art, completing a BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Plymouth University (2010) followed by an MA in Contemporary Art Practice (2022). His work has been exhibited widely, including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2020) in London, as well as in Berlin and across the UK. His paintings are represented in permanent collections worldwide, with works held in the USA, Canada, South Korea, Hong Kong, India, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Now based in a remote farmhouse cottage on the Duchy of Cornwall Estate, Derek continues to create bold, textured, and thought-provoking works. Rooted in his surroundings yet shaped by a lifetime of engagement with performance and visual culture, his practice explores the intricacies of the human condition through both figurative and abstract forms.
Artist Statement
My practice explores the complexities of the human condition, with a focus on the emotional and physical intricacies that shape our existence. Through texture, form, and movement, I seek to create spaces where vulnerability and resilience coexist, inviting viewers to contemplate the deeper layers of the human experience.
In my Figurative Studies, I work with muslin fabric and acrylic paint to build textured, sculptural surfaces that suggest the presence of the body without fully defining it. Influenced by my time alongside performative artists and inspired by the writings of Vaslav Nijinsky, these works evoke both movement and stillness, capturing the raw tension between discipline, fragility, and the complexities of the human mind.
My latest series, Traverse, extends this exploration into more expansive, abstract terrains. These works chart psychological and emotional landscapes, where fragmented forms and layered textures become pathways of transition. Traverse reflects a continual process of crossing thresholds—between inner and outer worlds, control and release, stillness and motion.
Together, these collections mark an ongoing exploration of how we shape and inhabit our own narratives. Through material and gesture, I aim to create work that resonates both physically and emotionally, opening up space for reflection on what it means to move through the world as a human being.
Exhibitions
2024 Resilient Vulnerability - Expressions of Strength at the Theatre Royal Plymouth, Devon
2019 Host Galleries, Plymouth, Devon
2019 Scholars, St. Germans, Cornwall
2018 Scholars, St. Germans, Cornwall
2017 Long Gallery, St Germans, Cornwall
2012 Fragile at The Pipe Gallery, Plymouth, Devon
2009 Who'd Have Thought at The Gallery, Liskeard, Cornwall
Collaborative
2025 ABODE - Canvas Gallery, Plymouth, Devon
2025 Autumn Show - Canvas Gallery, Plymouth, Devon
2025 Exposed to the Edge - Canvas Gallery, Plymouth, Devon
2024 Kips Bay Palm Beach, 230 Miramar Way, West Palm Beach
2024 Lisk Gallery at 44AD Gallery, 4 Abbey St. Bath, Somerset
2023 Lisk Gallery, Liskeard, Cornwall, UK
2023 Dreaming in Colour and Shape - Daa Art Online Exhibition
2022 KARST Gallery, Plymouth, Devon
2021 Gallery Shtorm Inaugural Online Exhibition
2021 Euilibrium & Chaos - Gallery Shtorm in residence at Royal Opera Arcade Gallery
2020 Summer Exhibition - Royal Academy of Arts, London
2016 Artmill Gallery, Plymouth, Devon
2016 Artmill Gallery, Plymouth, Devon
2015 Artmill Gallery, Plymouth, Devon, UK
2012 Modern Artist Gallery, Pangbourne, Berkshire
2010 Royal William Yard, Plymouth, Devon
2009 Royal William Yard, Plymouth, Devon
Collectors are welcome to contact me directly with enquiries regarding available works, commissions and studio visits.
+44 (0)7929 001175
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