Dom Pattinson is an unusual urban artist as he has formal training from Winchester School of Art and did his MA at the Glasgow School of Art. After graduating Dom spent some time living in Russia and Northern Ireland where he saw the murals and graffiti as powerful forms of dissent and protest. Urban and street art became his genre for communicating his own form of gentle parody and satire.His work is full of subversive humour, at times giving a nod to Warhol with his use of repetition, replacing icons with wild animals such as zebra and bears. He riffs on Hirst, mocking his motifs of skulls and butterflies with added comedy glasses. Text also comes into play, raw and witty straight from the can.
His work is fun and provocative, at times a bit naughty and always clever. Dom alternates between strict stenciling and loose over painting giving the work an immediacy and fluidity.
Dom has a massive celebrity following and there will be a BBC documentary on him and he has been commissioned by Ted Baker to decorate their flagship store in New York. Dom’s pieces are now in seriously high demand with those in the know seeing the future value in his work.
For this exhibition at Artcatto, Dom has produced more of his sought after wildlife pieces, an elephant surrounded by glorious butterflies, a panda bear set against a pink background and located within a strayed heart. The message here is clear, that we have a duty of care to protect these endangered species and to preserve our environment for future generations to enjoy.
