David John Nash RA, OBE is a British internationally renowned, environmental sculptor based in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales. He works primarily with wood that has fallen naturally or has been felled due to disease, age or safety. His main tools for these sculptures are a chainsaw and an axe to carve, and a blowtorch to burn and char the wood. Nash also makes Land Art where trees, copses or brambles are manipulated and sculpted to form living, growing sculptures. These can be walls of living matter, grids of saplings or domes of vegetation. These are long term projects that can span decades. He has created a varied body of work in which the relationship between humankind and nature is a central theme. His artistic ethos has been one of direct, physical involvement with his chosen material, wood, and the natural environment.
David Nash (born 1945) studied at Kingston College of Art from 1963 to 1967 and at Chelsea School of Art (Postgraduate) from 1969 to 1970. The artist's first solo shows were held in 1973 at Queen Elizabeth Hall, York and at Oriel, Bangor in Wales. These quickly led to a series of solo exhibitions throughout the UK. In 1980 Nash's international reputation was established after solo exhibitions at Elise Meyer Gallery, New York and at Galleria Cavallino, Venice in Italy. Ever since, on an annual basis, David Nash has continued to exhibit throughout the world.
Nash's artwork has been included in major international group exhibitions since 1970. These include 'The Condition of Sculpture' at the Hayward Gallery, London in 1975,'British Art Now: An American Perspective' at the Soloman R Guggenheim Museum, New York and tour in 1980, 'British Sculpture in the Twentieth Century, Part II' at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London in 1981 and 'Aspects of British Art Today' at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in 1982, 'Here and Now' at the Serpentine Gallery, London in 1995, 'Sculptors' Drawings 1945-90' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and 'The Shape of the Century: 100 Years of Sculpture in Britain' at Salisbury Cathedral and Canary Wharf, London in 1999. In 2000 Nash's 'Cube, Sphere, Pyramid' installation was purchased by the Chantrey Bequest for the nation.
In 1999 Nash was elected a Royal Academician, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Art & Design by Kingston University and appointed a Research Fellow at the University of Northumbria, Newcastle.