The House of Commons has selected Adam Dant as the nation’s official ‘election artist’. Commissioned by the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art, Dant will document the processes and outcomes of the 2015 General Election, record its main themes, and explore the concerns and activities of the electorate.
Best known for his monumental narrative ink drawings which approach British culture, politics and ideology with a rich vein of satire, between 1995-2000 Dant produced Donald Parsnips Daily Journal, a regular pamplet which he distributed around London by hand. He was winner of The Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2002 and his work is in numerous collections both nationally and internationally, including those of Tate Britain and MOMA New York
As the official election artist he will travel around the United Kingdom, observing electioneering in the run up to polling day. Sketches made during these travels will be shared on parliamentary social media channels and a final completed work will join the Parliamentary Art Collection, a unique educational resource which documents and illustrates the history of Parliament over the centuries.
Election drama
Dant is the fourth artist to take on the role, following in the footsteps of Jonathan Yeo (2001), David Godbold (2005) and Simon Roberts (2010)
Speaking about his appointment, he said: “Sketching the daily dramas of life in the UK has always provided the inspiration for my large narrative tableau drawings. The 2015 general election is such a drama and I am very pleased to have been selected by the Works of Art Committee at Westminster to document this crucial national event.
“From a starting point of drawing the British electorate’s various engagements with social and economic issues across the UK on the eve of a very unpredictable 2015 general election, I hope to go on to embody in grand narrative fashion who we are now as political beings in the light of our common and our personal political histories.”
Announcing Dant’s appointment, Frank Doran MP, chair of the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art, said: “Adam’s work gives a rich and textured look at the modern world. The images he produces are dense with meaning, calling back to great British satirical artists of the 18th and 19th centuries.”
www.parliament.uk/about/art-in-parliament/news/
CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this article we said that Adam Dant won the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2003; it was actually 2002.
