Ian Davenport was born in Kent in 1966. He studied at Goldsmiths' College of Art in London, graduating in 1988 with a B.A. in Fine Art. In the same year, he exhibited in the Damien Hirst-curated Freeze exhibition which first brought together many of the later-to-be known "Young British Artists.² In 1991, he was shortlisted for the Turner Prize and since then has exhibited extensively across the world, and undertaken several large-scale site-specific murals, including the 50m long mural under the bridge on Southwark Street, London.
His abstract paintings are made by pouring paint onto a tilted surface and letting gravity spread the paint over medium density fibreboard rather than canvas. He most often employs household gloss paint, such that the viewer can glean their own reflection in the work. His systematic approach, predetermining both materials and process, results in paintings whose effect is based on physical immediacy rather than any theoretical background. He has made a number of diptychs and triptychs as well as single works.
More recently he has turned his attention to silkscreen printing and etching and has already built up an impressive body of graphic work. Davenport's work is held in numerous public collections including the Arts Council of Great Britain, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Tate Gallery, London, Weltkunst Collection, Zurich and Southampton City Art Gallery.