Derek Dickinson is a British artist whose work explores the human condition through themes of fragility, resilience, and vulnerability. His paintings translate the psychological complexities of human experience into pared-back, quietly expressive forms.
Working with muslin fabric and acrylic paint, and more recently incorporating linear geometry and colour, Dickinson explores the tensions between strength and sensitivity, stillness and internal movement. His practice is informed by personal experience and an ongoing interest in the delicate balance between vulnerability and resilience.
Traverse
Traverse is a series of paintings that develops ideas explored in Dickinson’s earlier figurative studies, where form and composition played a central role. In this body of work, the figure gives way to abstraction, with colour and line becoming the primary elements. Bands of colour sit alongside and press against one another, creating shifting relationships between shape, space, and surface.
Working through the placement, layering, and interaction of colour and line, Dickinson explores the balance between structure and spontaneity, allowing each element to influence the next. The compositions evolve through a process of adjustment and refinement, with an emphasis on restraint, subtle shifts, and the relationships that emerge between the elements.
Traverse
on canvas
Traverse
on paper
Figurative Studies
My figurative work developed from an ongoing interest in the human condition and the relationship between physical presence and inner experience. Influenced by my early career working alongside artists in performance, I became interested in the emotional and physical demands of their practice. This led me to the life and writings of Vaslav Nijinsky, whose vulnerability and struggles with mental illness resonated with my own reflections on sensitivity, resilience, and the complexities of being human.
Working with muslin fabric and acrylic paint, I developed an intuitive and physical approach to making. I would soak the fabric in paint and throw it with force, allowing it to fall and settle into unpredictable forms. Sometimes an image emerged immediately; at other times, the process was repeated until I began to recognise something within the material. Initially, I left these forms largely untouched, but gradually began to manipulate the fabric, drawing out and developing the shapes I found within it. Over time, the work moved increasingly towards the figurative, evolving through an ongoing dialogue between chance, recognition, and intervention.
Figurative Studies
Available
Figurative Studies
Archive
Biography
Derek Dickinson (b. 1960) is a contemporary painter and visual artist based in Cornwall, southwest England. His early career in London's creative industries spanned film, photography, television, music videos, and performance. Working across design, styling, and artist management, he developed a broad understanding of visual culture and the relationship between image, movement, and expression.
Returning to the South West, Derek went on to study Fine Art at Plymouth University, graduating with a BA (Hons) in 2010, followed by an MA in Contemporary Art Practice in 2022. His work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London (2020), in Berlin, and elsewhere in the UK. His paintings are held in private collections worldwide.
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Derek's practice has evolved from figurative works made using muslin fabric and acrylic paint to more abstract explorations of line, colour, and form. Across these changing approaches, he continues to develop his work through an evolving relationship with materials, processes, and the possibilities of painting.
Artist Statement
My practice has developed through an ongoing interest in the human condition, particularly the relationship between vulnerability and resilience, physical presence, and inner experience. My early experiences working alongside artists in performance, together with my later engagement with the life and writings of Vaslav Nijinsky, informed my interest in the emotional and psychological dimensions of human experience.
In my Figurative Studies, I worked with muslin fabric and acrylic paint, using an intuitive and physical process in which chance played an important role. By soaking and throwing the fabric, I allowed unpredictable forms to emerge, gradually recognising and manipulating shapes within the material. Over time, this process evolved from an acceptance of chance towards a more deliberate engagement with the figurative, developing through an ongoing dialogue between material, gesture, and intervention.
My Traverse series marks a shift towards a more abstract visual language, exploring the possibilities of line, colour, and geometric form. While distinct from my earlier work, it continues my interest in the relationship between restraint and spontaneity, and in the ways that a painting can develop through the process of making. Each series represents a different stage in an evolving practice, shaped by experimentation, changing materials, and an openness to unexpected directions.
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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