In The Frame: Enrico David

Who? Enrico David

How old? 43

He gets his kicks: sticking pictures of butterflies where women’s heads should be, doing embroidery, and making representations of himself molesting mannequins

He wants us to think about: shame and voyeurism, cultural codes, and big gongs

Why do we give a damn? Because he’s one of the four Turner Prize nominees this year and he’s brilliant enough to win. Since the early 1990s, the Italian-born artist has been working across various media: from drawing through embroidery to larger scale sculpture. He has exhibited at the Tate Britain, the Saatchi Gallery and the ICA, as well as in a plethora of other well-respected galleries from Dublin to Cologne.

David is best known for his camp and slightly disconcerting embroideries, alluring pieces that present theatrical black silhouettes with gaudily coloured flowers and butterflies dancing in the place of heads. They appear simply to be heavily stylised, chic creations on first glance that quickly transform into overtly erotic provocations upon further inspection. To further heighten the awkwardness of the viewer, the posing bodies – which we assume at first to be female – are in fact weirdly asexual, with no breasts or telling lumps at the crotch; they are high-heeled but frustratingly genderless.

His work is uncomfortable and grotesque at times, qualities particularly notable in his 2007 show Ultra Paste at the ICA, which won a five-star review from veteran art critic Jonathan Jones. There, he presented an installation that recreated the bedroom he occupied as a teenager, featuring a cut-out image of his young self rubbing against a mannequin hanging in front of him, arms spread as if enduring crucifixion – a figure he describes as ‘the effigy of trustworthiness itself’.

David describes his creative process as a kind of emotional organization: ‘Drawing is the starting point for most of my work,’ he says, ‘from the rendering of a photographic image to a more intuitive, spontaneous approach. I often borrow from traditional craft techniques and design styles, using their pre-given rules and functional potential in an attempt to organize and give structure to the often chaotic nature of my emotional response to reality.’

–Ellie Rose