Enrico David represented by White Cube

White Cube announces its representation of the London-based Italian artist Enrico David (born 1966 in Ancona, Italy), in collaboration with Michael Werner Gallery.

The artist’s first exhibition with the gallery will open in October 2025 at White Cube Paris, coinciding with his retrospective at the Castello di Rivoli (29 October 2025 – 22 March 2026). Selected works will also be on view at White Cube’s booth at Art Basel Hong Kong (28–30 March 2025, booth 1C23).

“Over nearly four decades, David has developed a distinctive visual lexicon that explores bodily transformations, investigating its countless manifestations through an experimental approach to materials and forms,” states the gallery’s press release.

He has exhibited at major institutions worldwide, including significant retrospectives at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2018), and the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC (2019). That same year, he was selected as one of three artists to represent Italy at the 58th Venice Biennale.

Furthermore: “Influenced by the language of dramatization and theatre, David’s multifaceted practice – spanning painting, sculpture, tapestry, and installation – draws from a wide range of sources, including visual fragments, literary, cinematic and art-historical references, as well as personal memory.
Born into a family of artisans, David moved to London in the late 1980s, earning a BA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins. The influence of design and craft permeates his work, and in 1999 he debuted in a group show at the Saatchi Gallery with a series of large embroidered tapestries inspired by fashion photography. Among these, Stick of Rock (1999) features the silhouette of a figure subtly evoking both domestic craft and bondage, where the homely quality of pink wool meets references to latex suits or fetish wear. An early example of David’s fascination with the tension between identity and performance, the work marks the beginning of his ongoing inquiry into the self.
Characterized by surrealist detours or the shock of the grotesque, many of David’s sculptures and installations originate from his drawings. He develops these forms by modeling wax or clay, then casting them in bronze or polymer plaster, and later incorporating materials such as wood, steel, wool, sponge, and others.
A process involving iteration, translation, and transformation, David’s practice reflects a continual personal evolution – a transitional space from which open-ended questions constantly emerge.”

Image: Enrico David, photograph © White Cube (Eva Herzog)