email: info@danielrapley.co.uk
Phone: (+44) 07894007779
Studio address: Vibrant Matter, 4 Stodman Street, Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG24 1AN
Bio
Born 1979 and based in Nottinghamshire, UK, Daniel Rapley is an artist working experimentally with photography to discover new and unexpected ways of seeing with and through the medium.
Through probing the tensions between representation and abstraction, his work meditates on photography’s elastic correspondence with reality, its role in shaping our relations with the world, and reconsiders what its function could be, beyond its status as an instrument of representation. As a result, his work often feels more painterly than photographic.
Rapley’s practice is underpinned by an interest in the strangeness of authorship. By appropriating found photographic material, his work allows histories, contexts, producers and meanings to overlap and conflate, becoming uncanny sites, where authorial certainty has slipped its leash.
In repurposing the technological waste of the last century, his work simultaneously comments on our culture of disposability and the superabundance of photography that permeates modernity.
Rapley’s work has featured in group shows at The Barbican, London, Club Solo, The Netherlands and Olympic Park, Beijing and has been reviewed in Frieze, Artists Newsletter and New York Arts. His first museum solo exhibition was held at Lakeside Arts in 2024, to coincide with the publication of his first book, Drift, (Beam Editions, 2024). He holds a Fine Art Masters Degree (Distinction) from Chelsea College of Art and a First Class Fine Art Degree from De Montfort University. He is the Course Leader of the Art & Design Foundation Diploma at Lincoln College and an Associate Photography Lecturer at Lincoln University. He regularly delivers bookmaking workshops in educational and public institutions and collaborates with Designer Bookbinders and Printmaking Charity. His work is held in public and private collections including The British Library, Ecole National Superieure de la Photographie, France, Gyorgy Simo Eidolon Library, Budapest, De Montfort University, UK.
Education
2010 - 2011 MA Fine Art (Distinction) - Chelsea College of Art & Design
2010 – 2010 Postgraduate Diploma Fine Art – Chelsea College of Art & Design
1998 – 2001 BA (Hons) Fine Art (First Class) – De Montfort University, Leicester
2025 Drift, Coreset, Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, UK
2024 Drift, Lakeside Arts, University of Nottingham, UK (view press release)
2024 Drift Part 2, Beam, Nottingham, UK
2024 Drift, Project Space Plus, University of Lincoln, UK
2024 Drift, School Gallery, Folkestone, UK
2018 Transcription Flags, Usher Gallery, Lincoln, UK
2012 Covenant, Payne Shurvell, London
2011 Archive of Lost References, The Old College Library, Chelsea College of Art, London
Solo Exhibitions
2025 A Day In The Life, School Gallery, Folkestone, UK
2023 The Power of Printed Matter, Beam Editions, Nottingham UK
2023 A Generous Space 3, Huddersfield Art Gallery, UK
2022 Open 2022, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK
2022 Open, Old Lockup Gallery, Cromford, Derbyshire, UK
2021 Share Bears, Backlit Gallery, Nottingham, UK
2020 The Found Object, Praxis, Minneapolis, USA
2020 Enough Is Definitely Enough, Oceans Apart, Salford, UK
2019 Surfaces, Millepiani, Rome, Italy
2019 Off-Centre Photo Festival, Nottingham, UK
2019 Geste 2019: The Truth In Disguise (showreel), Paris, France
2019 Enough Is Definitely Enough, General Practice, Lincoln, UK
2018 The Arca Project, Payne Shurvell Gallery, London
2017 31 Degrees C, ASC Gallery, London
2017 Would You Like To Come Back To Our Hut?, Club Solo, Breda, Netherlands
2017 Would You Like To Come Back To Our Hut?, Backlit Gallery, Nottingham
2017 Draw The Line, Surface Gallery, Nottingham
2017 The Arca Project, Payne Shurvell Gallery, Suffolk
2016 Staff Show, Photography Department, Lincoln University, Lincoln
2016 Mass, Backlit, Nottingham
2014 A Bright and Guilty Place: Part II, The Hospital Club, London
2013 Creative Cities Collection, Olympic Park Gallery, Beijing, China
2012 Creative Cities Collection, Barbican, London
2012 Post-Production Line, Vibe Gallery, London
2012 Propeller Island 9: Crossing the Line, X Marks the Bokship, London
2011 MA Show, Chelsea College of Art & Design, London
2011 Waiting, Chelsea Cafe, Chelsea College of Art & Design, London
2011 MA Interim Show, Chelsea College of Art & Design, London
2011 London Art Fair, Represented by Payne Shurvell, Business Design Centre, London
2010 Rational/Irrational, curated by Dermot O’Brien as part of 4by4 (in association with Neville Brody’s Anti Design Festival), Payne Shurvell, London
2010 Final Year Pg Dip Show, Chelsea College of Art & Design, London
2010 Guinea Pig, Triangle Space, Chelsea College of Art & Design, London
2009 London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, London
2008 Scope Art Fair, Lord’s Cricket Ground, London
2007 Bridge Art Fair, Trafalgar Hotel, London
2005 Deptford X 2005, 2B1 Open Studio, Deptford, London
2005 Landscape, Vertigo Gallery, London
2004 30 x 30, Vertigo Gallery, London
2004 Summer Exhibition, Case-1 Gallery, London
2004 Art London 2004, Burton’s Court, London
2004 Fleur Patrick & Daniel Rapley – Recent Paintings, Vertigo Gallery, London
2004 London Art Fair 2004, Business Design Centre, London
2003 30 x 30, Vertigo Gallery, London
2003 nth Art 001, Ols & Co Gallery, London
2003 Art London 2003, Burton’s Court, London
2003 Components, Surface Gallery, Nottingham
2003 Landscape, Vertigo Gallery, London
2001 Recent Work, Trinity House, De Montfort University, Leicester
2001 Revealed Concealed, Hogshead Exhibition Space, Leicester
Group Exhibitions
Daniel Rapley Convergences - published with Open Doors (2025)
Daniel Rapley Drift - artist book published by Beam Editions (2024), with essays from Nicholas Royle, Duncan Wooldridge, Jonathan Casciani and Ashley Gallant. ISBN 978-1-7385574-2-4
Enough is Definitely Enough: 62 Contemporary Artists Interpret a Postcard go Las Meninas, Andrew Bracey, published by Beam Editions (2021) ISBN 978-1-9162759-9-7
Catlin Guide, 2012, ISBN: 978-0-9564570-2-8
Creative Cities Collection (exhibition catalogue) 2012
Masters of Arts 2011, Chelsea College of Art & Design, Edition of 1000 copies (ISBN: 978-0-9569882-0-1)
London Art Fair 2004 (catalogue)
Books
2012 Amy Sherlock, review of ‘Covenant’ in Frieze. (read)
2012 an magazine, April 2012, p.28 Daniel Rapley: Covenant, by Anna McNay. (read)
2012 NY Arts magazine Vol 19, p34 Belief in the Book: Daniel Rapley’s Sic, by Beverly Knowles
2012 Paul Carey-Kent’s Top 10 on Saatchi Online.
2012 Beth Fox, review of ‘Covenant’ in Artists Insight.
2012 Chloe Nelkin, review of ‘Covenant’ on Artista. (read)
2012 Huffington Post In the Beginning: Daniel Rapley’s Bible, by James Payne and Michael Hall. (read)
2012 Artfridge article about ‘Covenant’ by Anna-Lena Werner. (read)
2010 In The Beginning Was The Word, In Ballpoint, Elizabeth Renzetti, The Globe & Mail, (Canadian National Newspaper) (read)
2005 A Natural World Made Modern, Chris Schuler, The Independant
Press
2012 Catlin Award (shortlisted)
2011 GAM Prize (shortlisted)
2001 DeMontfort University School of Business Purchase Award
Awards
2017 – present Art & Design Foundation Studies Course Leader, Lincoln College
2015 – 2018 Lecturer, Art & Design Foundation, Newark College
2016 – present Associate Lecturer, BA Photography, Lincoln University
2017 Associate Lecturer, BA Fine Art, Leicester De Montfort University
2017 – present Associate Lecturing pool, Leeds Arts University, Leeds
Lecturing
2017 Artist talk, Club Solo Gallery, Breda, Netherlands
2017 Artist Talk for Would You Like To Come Back To Our Hut, Backlit Gallery, Nottingham
2016 Artist talk for ‘Mass’ group show at Backlit, Nottingham
2013 Visiting Lecturer for BA Fine Art, Croydon College
2013 Visiting Lecturer / tutor for BA Fine Art, De Montfort University, Leicester
2012 In conversation with Michael Hall (curator) at ‘Covenant’ exhibition, PayneShurvell, London
2011 Visiting Lecturer for BA Fine Art, Croydon College