Original work by DAVID FIELD
RAMSGATE, UK
Oil on board
Framed size 55 x 45 cm (38.5 x 28.5 unframed)
Signed, 2004
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David Field, RA (b.1937) is a formally trained British painter whose work captures the theatre of everyday life along the coastlines of south-east England and west Wales. While his career has unfolded largely outside the commercial spotlight, David’s paintings reveal a distinctive and quietly assured voice, one that feels both timeless and strikingly contemporary.
His earlier works are rooted in the seaside towns of Kent, particularly Ramsgate and Deal, where fairgrounds, harbour walls and promenades feature as carefully staged settings. These paintings observe human presence with wry understatement. Figures pause, gather, or drift through the scene, incidental yet essential to the story unfolding.
Field’s paintings are defined by a strong sense of symmetry and balance. His compositions are often centrally framed, lending a post-modern, almost hyperreal stillness, like a tableau paused mid-narrative. A soft, pastel-leaning palette enhances this storybook quality, while small, telling details of human life are observed with gentle humour. Now in his late eighties and still painting, David Field’s work feels newly resonant. Deeply British, quietly cinematic, and perfectly attuned to contemporary interiors seeking narrative depth and a sense of place.
About this painting, David says:“A fairground booking office always feels slightly alien to its surroundings - it’s a temporary structure, set down in a place where it doesn’t quite belong. In Ramsgate they held fairs on a green field at the edge of town, near the aerodrome. A large tent would go up first, and then a smaller tent beside it that served as the booking office. Against the openness of the field, it was an arresting image. The performers were painted on the sides of the tent itself, larger than life and theatrical. I included passers-by in the composition to give a sense of scale and to introduce a human presence. They anchor the scene. I was interested in the contrast between the ordinary landscape and this self-contained world that had briefly appeared within it.”
Original work by DAVID FIELD
RAMSGATE, UK
Oil on board
Framed size 55 x 45 cm (38.5 x 28.5 unframed)
Signed, 2004
Free UK shipping included with purchase price
Please get in touch for international shipping costs
David Field, RA (b.1937) is a formally trained British painter whose work captures the theatre of everyday life along the coastlines of south-east England and west Wales. While his career has unfolded largely outside the commercial spotlight, David’s paintings reveal a distinctive and quietly assured voice, one that feels both timeless and strikingly contemporary.
His earlier works are rooted in the seaside towns of Kent, particularly Ramsgate and Deal, where fairgrounds, harbour walls and promenades feature as carefully staged settings. These paintings observe human presence with wry understatement. Figures pause, gather, or drift through the scene, incidental yet essential to the story unfolding.
Field’s paintings are defined by a strong sense of symmetry and balance. His compositions are often centrally framed, lending a post-modern, almost hyperreal stillness, like a tableau paused mid-narrative. A soft, pastel-leaning palette enhances this storybook quality, while small, telling details of human life are observed with gentle humour. Now in his late eighties and still painting, David Field’s work feels newly resonant. Deeply British, quietly cinematic, and perfectly attuned to contemporary interiors seeking narrative depth and a sense of place.
About this painting, David says:“A fairground booking office always feels slightly alien to its surroundings - it’s a temporary structure, set down in a place where it doesn’t quite belong. In Ramsgate they held fairs on a green field at the edge of town, near the aerodrome. A large tent would go up first, and then a smaller tent beside it that served as the booking office. Against the openness of the field, it was an arresting image. The performers were painted on the sides of the tent itself, larger than life and theatrical. I included passers-by in the composition to give a sense of scale and to introduce a human presence. They anchor the scene. I was interested in the contrast between the ordinary landscape and this self-contained world that had briefly appeared within it.”
