David Roman
David Roman is a Birmingham-based contemporary artist working in gold, relief and engraved surfaces. Drawing on mythology, art history and sacred imagery, he gives form to archetypes, treating them as living patterns that still run through contemporary life. Each work is made as a space for contemplation.
Surfaces are built from many layers of traditional gesso, then engraved, embossed and gilded with a mix of historic and modern materials. The approach draws on Byzantine icon painting, where gold marks an image as significant, and looks towards a new kind of icon for today. Figures fragment and dissolve into wave-like fields, giving physical form to what is usually unseen.
The studio practice
His current projects include Homo Luminous, a series of seven works proposing a new icon of the human in relation to a wider field of consciousness, as the Vitruvian Man did for the natural world. 64 Stories of Alchemy, an ongoing project, gives form to 64 archetypal patterns through mythology and art history.
Roman moved to England in 2010 to study at Coventry University, graduating in 2013 with a BA in Fine Art and Illustration. His earlier work centred on the human body in motion, with hundreds of paintings exploring sport and movement, including Just Move, a year-long project of 350 works.
The current practice follows the same interest in the moment ordinary identity gives way to something larger, now approached through myth and inner experience.
Selected commissions and exhibitions
Commissions include work for the UFC Artist Series, Reebok and the NFL, for which two artworks became a mural at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. A season-long partnership with the Professional Footballers’ Association produced more than 30 artworks, presented monthly to professional footballers across five leagues, among them Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota.
Exhibitions include the solo show Just Move in Birmingham (2016) and the NGA Award Show in San Francisco (2017), where more than 30 works were featured, alongside group shows in London, Birmingham, Coventry and Romania.
Roman works independently from his studio in Birmingham. Original works are available by enquiry, alongside limited editions and commissions.
