David Haines

David Haines painstakingly produces expansive hyper-realistic pencil drawings, splicing together appropriated online imagery to produce often-bizarre or seemingly fetishistic amalgamations of youth culture with myths and legends. A man crouches in the rubble with a KFC bag over his head in Nike Air Sneaker vs Colonel Sanders (2009), appears to smell or drink from his shoes in Untitled (Nike Air Boy) (2009) and faces are uncomfortably censored with a used piece of chewing gum in Nike Boys On The Rocks (2005) and Osiris' Pyre (2006).

Brand names take prominence in both the works titles and hold importance for the young “scally” boys depicted in the scenes, trainers often peppering the landscapes. Haines also refers to the brands historical roots – Greek goddess of victory Nike or Egyptian god Osiris to blend contemporary and ancient cultures. The laborious process Haines chooses to meticulously reproduce his expendable online source imagery also forces viewers to slow down and consider the finer details of the scenes, interpreting their often confrontational and unsettling content for themselves.