David Vallade
Scratching The Surface: Artefacts and Souvenirs
While studying graphics and illustration at Camberwell School of Arts, David became inspired by the new club sounds coming out of the city in the '90s. With friends, he began organising 'Telepathic Fish chill out parties', documented in David Toops' acclaimed book, Ocean of Sound. This provided David with the opportunity and space to create paintings and banners to decorate key London venues, including the Cooltan in Brixton, the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm and Brixton's Academy, which served as the chill out space for Orbital.
In 1994, David's graphic work became the focal point at London's 'Ambient Soho' on Berwick Street. He has designed sleeve artwork for some of Britain's most cutting-edge electronica artists, from Warp Records to Ninja Tune, along with a plethora of other independent labels. Now, David's independent roots come full circle with an exhibition of his new collection of artworks at London's Rat Records.
An original 'scrawl' artist, David's work has been collated in a Booth Clibborn publication, along with notable others, including Banksy and Pete Fowler. He continues to apply his unique illustrative mark to a range of eclectic commercial and personal projects, just one of which is his recent Akan bird design for the Chuck Taylor 'Red Shoe', now available at www.converse.com