Backdrops,
Conversations across History,
“I’m interested in the vanishing spaces and David Mullett is a mostly self-taught artist whose
Creativity and Community
routines that once held working-class commu- winding path - farming family roots, theatre set
nities together. The rituals of making - pottery, painting, Canadian cathedral restoration and
31 - 33 High Street, Margate painting, building - those are languages we’re antiques dealing - shapes a practice that is at
losing.” once romantic and political. A partial product him-
5 — 28 September, 2025 self of the studio system of art education there
is a generosity in Mullet’s work reflected in his ac-
tivity at Community Pharmacy, Margate, which
David Mullett The exhibition features a selection of paint-
embraces a mode of education centred on men-
ings, displayed alongside curated cabinets of ce-
ASBOI ramic ornaments, echoing the domestic spac- toring, experimentation and testing out in this
Natalye Lewis es where working-class artistry once thrived. gallery and studio space, resulting in a non-hierar-
Informed by his eclectic personal history, from the- chal process of creative engagement and experience.
atre set painter at Drury Lane Theatre to restorer
for American antiques collectors in Brighton, Mul-
lett’s practice challenges prevailing hierarchies Main Gallery (L—R)
in art. His work is as much about the presentation
of self as it is about the loss of collective mem- Spanish Royal Family, Large oil with figures with
ory, evoking not only nostalgia but also unease. 2020 landscape, 2025
Oil on canvas Oil on canvas
This September, British artist David Mullett pre- 22 x 36 inches 71 x 83 inches
sents a compelling solo exhibition that delves £350 £700
The exhibition will delve into the layered themes of
into the disappearing intersections of la- class, labour, artifice and community, all of which A French man once told Picnic scene - 3 figures
me.. (French Immpretous), colour study, 2020
bour, class, skill, and identity in the 21st century. pulse through David Mullett’s work. Through the use 2025 Oil on canvas
Oil on canvas 40 x 50 inches
Running from Friday 5th September to Sunday 28th of costume, posture, and careful staging, Mullet ex- 71 x 83 inches £400
September, the exhibition explores the social theatre plores the ways in which class identity is both made £700
Cezanne Portrait, 2020
of working life, refracted through the artist’s lifelong visible and simultaneously erased in today’s visual Small Cat with Figures, Oil on canvas
2024 34 x 20 inches
fascination with 19th-century European Impression- culture. His deep engagement with theatricality and Oil on canvas £400
ism, the spectacle of dress, and the politics of craft. illusion - inspired by his early work in set design 16 x 16 inches
£200 Goya portrait, 2012
- invites viewers to question where performance Oil on canvas
Barmaid Talking (man with 36 x 22 cm
Mullett’s distinctive work invites us into elaborate- ends and identity begins, challenging conventional pipe), 2025 £400
ly staged scenes - portraits, gatherings, imagined ideas of authenticity. At the heart of the exhibition Oil on canvas
44 x 40 inches Spanish Royal family, 2020
histories, layered with symbolism and charged lies a profound respect for manual skill and studio £400 Oil on canvas
50 x 60 inches
with social commentary. With a deft command tradition, which Mullet uses to interrogate the im- Tiger Small study, 2021 £500
of oil painting and a deep respect for tradition- pact of automation, alienation of labour, and the Oil on canvas
16 x 20 inches Spanish Princess with
al craftsmanship, Mullett’s canvases pulse with erosion of craft in a capitalist society. Mullett’s work £200 Child, 2019
Oil on canvas
theatricality, whilst hinting at something more in- positions artistic education and labour not only as Girl painting China, 2025 72 x 20 inches
timate and uneasy: the erosion of working-class tools of expression but also as acts of resistance Oil on canvas £500
16 x 20 inches
identity in a post-industrial, automated world. and reconnection in an increasingly fractured world. £200 Gustos Arosa, 2016
Oil on canvas
Tile study, 2019 72 x 20 inches
Oil on canvas £500
16 x 16 inches
£200
The Margate School of Art The Margate School of Art
Café Area (R—L)
Agean islands study, 2025 ASOBI
Oil on canvas GROW, 2025
40 x 40 inches Acrylic on paper
28 x 20 inches
£400 £300
Frieda Kahlo I, 2025 ASOBI
Oil on board WAVES, 2025
19 x 16 inches Acrylic on paper
28 x 20 inches
£200 £300
Frieda Kahlo II, 2025 ASOBI BACKDROPS
Oil on board DRIFT, 2025
36 x 14 inches Acrylic on paper Conversations across History,
28 x 20 inches
£200 £300 Creativity and Community
ASOBI Natalye Lewis
CRESPEDIA, 2025 Untitled
Oil paster on paper Charchoal on canvas
28 x 20 inches 35 x 23 inches
£300 £300
ASOBI
HOTPOKER Natalye Lewis
Untitled
Oil paster on paper Charchoal on canvas
28 x 20 inches 23 x 23 inches
£300 £300
ASOBI Natalye Lewis
WHALE Untitled The Margate School of Art (TMS) is a diverse
Acrylic on canvas Charchoal on canvas creative community of artists, makers, stu-
23 x 23 inches
22 x 54 inches £300 dents, academics and volunteers located in
£300
the vibrant coastal town of Margate, Kent.
ASOBI
STONEHENGE
Acrylic on canvas As a not-for-profit postgraduate liberal arts school
35 x 31 inches at the heart of this community, we focus on the
£300 role of the arts in social and environmental justice.
ASOBI
HIDING IN THE TREE, 2025 We offer postgraduate study with internation-
Acrylic on canvas
51 x 34 inches al links and the rigour of a qualification accred-
£300 ited by our partner Esä, a leading French higher
education art school based in Dunkerque and
5 — 28 September 2025
Tourcoing. We take a radical, democratic ap- 31 - 33 High Street Margate
proach to arts education, equipping you to en-
vision, shape and navigate an uncertain future.
TMS supports artists and makers to develop a
sustainable creative practice and provides an ex-
The Margate School of Art citing alternative to mainstream arts education. The Margate School of Art