SOUTH Lakes artist David Almond will be showcasing his unique Blok Abstract style with a solo exhibition launching in August.

Play will go on display at the Signature Gallery, in Kirkland, Kendal, from Saturday August 12 to Tuesday September 5.

The unusual artistic style, which incorporates plastic toy bricks, was arrived at through David's desire to work in a three-dimensional medium.

He says: "I am skilled at the balance of colours and both simple and complex shapes. Once, when looking at these shapes and colours, I found the experience of looking at them, as being too ‘flat’.


"I soon settled on the idea of using Lego bricks, and have not looked back since.

"I attribute much of my abilities in balancing simple and complex shapes to my experiences of paranoid schizophrenia as well as there being underlying mathematical reasons for their intuitive creation."

For his exhibited Blok Abstract artwork, David uses non-branded bricks that feature prominently in each image, which is created on a background that is painted with pure gut expression, rarely stopping to pause and think. Next he glues the bricks over their shape, colour and placement, creating intuitive balance alongside the more expressive background. The final phase is to paint shapes alongside and on top of the bricks.


Play is his first solo show, and David is planning to pursue this unique "pop art" style further in the future.

"I continue to improve, piece by piece, and I am thoroughly engaged with this niche style," he says.

"Originality, I prize heavily, and I have seen so much contemporary abstract art being repeated, so I am often put off by it.

"My work is original, colourful, nostalgic and very skilled in the precision balance of every element to the painting. Every element is considered and organic, coming together quickly and naturally with a ‘schizophrenic, creative mind’."

Play will be on show at the Signature Gallery from Saturday August 12 to Tuesday September 5.