David Dye

About the artist

David Dye (1945-2015) was an artist, film maker and lecturer. He studied at St Martin’s School of Art, London (c.1968-72), Goldsmith’s College, London (1984-86) and was a senior lecturer in Sculpture at the University of Northumbria.

Dye gained high profile exposure whilst still a student at St. Martin’s School of Art, exhibiting at the Young Contemporaries at the Royal Academy, London in 1970 and The British Avant-Garde at the New York Cultural Center in 1971. The works exhibited at these exhibitions were described as ‘devices’, mirrored pieces which manipulated the spectator’s position.

According to Dye, these ‘devices’ developed from his interest in the way that sculpture traditionally demanded different viewpoints, the way that the viewer moved around sculpture and in effect ‘completed’ their experience of the work. The location of the spectator was to be a recurrent theme throughout Dye’s career.

What’s in the collection?

The collection contains the papers of sculptor David Dye, including sketchbooks, drawings, films, presentation boards, photographs, negatives, project files, exhibition catalogues and correspondence.

The collection is particularly abundant in material related to the first twenty years of Dye’s career and covers all aspects of his artistic practice, including sculpture, installation and film performance. His most prominent solo and joint exhibitions are represented in the archive, including The New Art, Hayward Gallery, 1972.

Dye’s time at St. Martin’s School of Art is represented in the archives by presentation boards and photographs, and a collection of his notebooks provides additional insight into his time at the school. The film content of the archive is rich in material related to his performance work.

Related exhibitions