Curated by Mark Sladen

A major exhibition by Italian-born, UK-based artist Enrico David bodes well as the first monographic show organized by Mark Sladen, the ICA’s new director of exhibitions. David’s impressively varied body of work has involved embroidery, drawing, gouache, printmaking, and sculpture, incorporating references to styles ranging from Art Deco to 1970s interior design. The resulting artworks—among them a series of canvases featuring exuberant, stiletto-heeled figures, and a stained-wood, friezelike sculpture of a dancing chorus line—make it clear that David marches to the beat of his own camp drummer. Yet it is the humanistic, labor-intensive constancy and beauty of his art that have made David a much-admired figure on the British scene. This exhibition of some thirty works includes a new installation based on a photocollage by Surrealist artist Dora Maar, as well as a gallery with David’s selections from his own holdings of his work.

— Gilda Williams