David Le Fleming
(he/him)
Humans are known for their inability to comprehend complex things like large numbers. Art for me serves as a means to understand the complex, a point in time, life with clutter removed. We need art to understand the other, to have a contextual measure that lets us spectate and reflect.
In my art practice, the central theme is time and measures of what we know and anticipate, our life experience gestalts.
I work with oil on metal mostly. I love painting on old aged metal in particular, it’s generally tough which allows for more surface abuse and stressing, a key part of my aesthetic. Metal bears witness marks well – its aged surface confirms the passing of time, and it feels like a good tenet of what it is to be human.
Studio history
I’ve had many studios over the years. The most significant for me was Anvil House (pictured below) on Wakefield Street, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. I was there for about 6 years in the late 90s and early 2000s. It was a shared studio, a place of collective experimentation and chaos. It’s where I feel I learnt the most and cut my teeth so to speak on alot of things that now are a continual part of my process and art practice. The social aspect of shared studios is a very good place to develop and grow as a young aspiring artist.
Arriving in London in 2003, I had short term studio spaces in Kilburn, Finsbury Park, Stoke Newington, but most notably was a studio I rented for five years in West Hampstead. I was in one of 40 old garages down a mews running behind the West Hampstead shops. We had these great big forest green doors that concertinaed open, and the community we had there was special with an assortment of sculptors, painters, school teachers and mechanics. We spent many an afternoon piled into one of the studios for a smoko break, sharing ideas and delving into all sorts conversations that were well off the beaten path.
Following that I found myself in East London in an old warehouse conversion in Hackney Wick for around 9 years. A live/work space in the middle of what was, to my knowledge, the most heavily populated area of artists per capita for the whole of Europe, for like I want to say twenty years. Here I found my tribe fairly quickly and once again enjoyed the props of being surrounded by artists. From here I found myself exhibiting in cities across Europe, including Frankfurt, Cologne, Lille, and Paris.
I now work and live in Taranaki New Zealand with my wife Suraya, Mario pictured above who hitched a ride back from London, and eight chickens. Eight beautiful chickens.
Lindsay – God of Subsistence (2019)
oil on car bonnet
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Brave New Mortals
Open studio
New Plymouth Ngāmotu
2021 Seven Queens of the Feather
Contemporary Art Space Taranaki
New Plymouth Ngāmotu
2019 Original Myth
Potocki Paterson Gallery, Te Aro
Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
2018 Scrapyard Saints
Potocki Paterson Gallery, Te Aro
Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
2016 Instruments of Possession
Potocki Paterson Gallery, Te Aro
Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
2015 Inflammable Liquids
See Studio, Hackney Wick
London, UK
2009 Petrol
Signal Gallery, Curtain Road
London, UK
2008 Gullwing Mary and the Dannevirke Divas
Degree Art (aka Empire Gallery),
Vyner Street, London, UK
2008 Morri’s Gumpy
Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia
London, UK
2006 Ted Mongering
Foundry, Old Street Junction
London, UK
2005 Saltarello
Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia
London, UK
2005 Wagon
Foundry, Old Street Junction
London, UK
2004 No Peerless Social Lion
Foundry, Old Street Junction
London, UK
2003 Making up for Lost Body Language
Anvil House, Te Aro
Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
2003 No.2 Join the Hayboy Club
Start Gallery, Willis Street
Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
2002 Cordial Factions
Anvil House, Te Aro
Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
2002 Vocabulary Gone Feral
Walrus Gallery
Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
2001 Barney’s World of Absolutes
Gallery on Riddiford, Newtown, Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
2001 My Guru Needs Fixing
Rimu Street Gallery
Eastbourne Ōkiwi
2000 Sp Sp
John Street Grill
Newtown, Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
2000 Making Sense Between Planes
Aro Street Cafe
Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
1999 Come Frusion Tide
Brasserie XVI
Eastbourne Ōkiwi
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Miniatures group show
Antoinette Godkin Gallery
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
2025 Substrate group show
Substrate Gallery
Ngāmotu New Plymouth
2025 Expression: Body and Soul
Percy Thomson Gallery
Stratford Whakaahurangi
2024 HOME WORK MAUNGA AUAHA
Puke Ariki
New Plymouth Ngāmotu
2024 STU MORRIS AND DAVE LE FLEMING
Contemporary Art Space Taranaki
New Plymouth Ngāmotu
2023 PRIVATE VIEWING
Summer Group Show
Contemporary Art Space Taranaki
New Plymouth Ngāmotu
2023 ABROAD
Percy Thomson Gallery
Stratford Whakaahurangi
2023 PILE UP
Two person exhibition
Contemporary Art Space Taranaki
New Plymouth Ngāmotu
2022 Loving Across Distances
Ahuriri Contemporary
Napier Ahuriri
2022 We all think we’re good people
Curated by Rohan Wealleans
Percy Thomson Gallery
Stratford Whakaahurangi
2022 HOMEWORK
Puke Ariki
New Plymouth Ngāmotu
2022 The art of resilience
Percy Thomson Gallery
Stratford Whakaahurangi
2021 We all think we’re good people
Contemporary Art Space Taranaki
New Plymouth Ngāmotu
2020 And the Pagola is done
Contemporary Art Space Taranaki
New Plymouth Ngāmotu
2020 HOMEWORK
Puke Ariki
New Plymouth Ngāmotu
2020 State of the Art (Hanging with Rodin)
Percy Thomson Gallery
Stratford Whakaahurangi
2020 Super Cuba Dupa
VR exhibition
Potocki Paterson Gallery, Te Aro
Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
2019 Short and Punchy
Potocki Paterson Gallery, Te Aro
Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
2019 Moving on
Koru on Devon
New Plymouth Ngāmotu
2017 Objects of Desire
Apart Gallery, Notting Hill/Westbourne Grove
London, UK
2015 Lost and Found
James Freeman Gallery, Islington
London, UK
2014 Apart Summer Show
Apart Gallery, Notting Hill/Westbourne Grove
London, UK
2012 Apart Winter Show
Apart Gallery, Notting Hill/Westbourne Grove
London, UK
2011 Generations
Saatchi Gallery & Chelsea Old Town Hall
London, UK
2011 Apart Summer Show
Apart Gallery, Notting Hill/Westbourne Grove
London, UK
2011 Configured
Signal Gallery
London Rānana
2010 From London to Lille
Vertikall Galerie
Lille, France
2010 Carrousel Du Louvre
Louvre
Paris, France
2010 10 Years Apart
Apart Gallery, Notting Hill/Westbourne Grove
London, UK
2010 Cluster Fits Five
Foundry, Old Street Junction
London, UK
2010 Jam 3
Art Festival, Vitry-sur-Seine
Paris, France
2009 Artists for Dalai Lama
Krauts Gallery
Köln & Frankfurt, Germany
2009 Cluster Fits
Foundry, Old Street Junction
London, UK
2009 Go Figure
Krauts Gallery, UFO
Frankfurt, Germany
2008 House of Yamake
Apart Gallery, Notting Hill/Westbourne Grove
London, UK
2008 Mixed Blessings
Signal Gallery, Curtain Road
London, UK
2005 Definition 5
Praxis Studios, Stoke Newington
London, UK
2003 Agapemone
Allen Street
Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
1998 5+
Egmont Street
Wellington Te Whanganui a Tara
David Le Fleming 
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