Homosexuality was illegal until 1967, which meant the first six years of my life I was illegal. After this the world still continued to force opprobrium and pass scorn on my sexual identity. It’s understandable that sex and identity would become central to my work.
In The Beginning
I moved to London in 1976 from Matlock in Derbyshire. Like many a young person before me I wanted to find my life in the big city and being gay this was even more important. I’d known I was gay from a very early age and this aspect of my identity has guided my work as a photographer and artist. When I arrived in London I searched out anything that looked or sounded ‘queer’. The pink triangle symbol was like a beacon and anything that had it on the cover I’d devour. Famous gay people especially drew my interest, I wanted to find out about my cultural heritage, compare myself to my forbears and be like them.
Destiny brought me to the studio of artist Brian Clarke and it was here I first thought about becoming a photographer after discovering the work of photographers such as Diane Arbus, Robert Mappelthorpe, David Bailey and Cecil Beaton. I noticed they all photographed their generation often defining the era with their portraits. So when I started taking pictures it was natural that I started photographing my contemporaries and anyone famous that captured my imagination…especially if they were gay or lesbian or trans or drag. It was my world and I was documenting the people in it. Many of these portraits are now in The National Portrait Gallery.
I would call my photographic style Portrait Documentary as I photograph the sitters in their home, or place of work or candidly out socialising, so they depict a certain up-close reality about the subject. And I always hoped the pictures would have a cultural value and find their place amongst the pages of queer history.
Art College
At art college I also started to draw on some of the photographs and stick things on them , usually as a border, making something decorative, a sort of rebellion against the stiff, rather straight world of photography. I was challenging the reverence I was supposed to give the ‘perfect print’ which was sacrosanct at that time. I felt it made the photograph more akin to a painting, gaving it a different status. This aspect of my work has lain dormant since college (long story but feel free to ask) but I have recently started again (2025) This may all be self-portraiture. I’ve always wanted to be more than I am/was, have more status as a young gay man and outsider. Perhaps it’s making the ‘straight’ and traditional photograph more aligned to my own nature… but I was just expressing myself before trying to understand it. What I find interesting is that I can transition the photograph to be something else with paint on it but at its heart, it’s still a photograph.
Candy Land
Around 2019 I started photographing landscape, more specifically an area of woodland which is a gay cruising area. I have called the series Candy Land. The work is an act of defiance and celebration. Cruising is an illicit activity and many people (including some gay men) would try to attach shame and secrecy to it. For me the work is an act of liberation and celebration about something which is quite harmless. In true gay tradition they are gaudy, humorous, sardonic and camp.
Beautiful Apocalypse
My second series of landscapes are a camp and playful re-imagining of what I see. There’s been an apocalypse but quite a gay one. Far from being barren and desolate earth burns brightly and more colourful, just before it dissolves forever.
Extras
Having been a punk (albeit a fluffy mohair, gay one) I rebelled at the idea of technical excellence, the correct f-stop and all that stuff which tradition judged a photograph by. Though like a punk band, I did have a technique used a version of the three basic chords (for me, two basic settings) and clicked away. I took pictures only when I encountered them and took my camera everywhere.
The National Portrait Gallery first acquired one of my pictures, a portrait of Joe Tilson, in the mid 80’s and paid just £10 for it. They have since purchased 20 further works from the 1980’s and in 2017 gave me a solo show titled ‘ Before We Were Men’, to recognise the purchase of the work and celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality.
Always thinking about my gay/queer identity, I designed a new flag – a twist in the Union Jack- celebrating my sense of pride in being British and gay. I called the flag the Pink Jack. This was the first time a country’s National flag had been appropriated in such a way. Until this point only the Rainbow flag existed as a representation of gay pride. It was a world first. Launching at Europride London in 2005 it was an instant hit and the flag was everywhere. Britain was starting to acknowledge the contribution of LGBTQ people. Equality was on the agenda, human rights were improving and civil partnerships had become legal. The Pink Jack echoed this and in 2013 I was voted 16th on the Independent’s list of the top 100 most influential gay people in Britain for the Pink Jack.
A few years ago I questioned if discovering photography so arbitrarily in Brian’s studio meant I was a fraud. How did I know I was a genuine artist if it wasn’t something I’d felt destined to be from an early age. Then, wandering around an exhibition of photographer Guy Bourdin’s work that year (2015) it dawned on me, that as a schoolboy, I had French Vogue delivered to the newsagent every month so I could look at the fashion photographs of Bourdin. I was crazy into fashion and always thought my love of Guy Bourdin’s pictures was for the fashion but of course I now realise it wasn’t as there aren’t really any clothes in his photographs, they are more about concept and strong design, I was into the picture itself- I was into the photography. And I now see in my portraits the sitter is often an element of an overall design and this must clearly be influenced by Guy Bourdin.
Painting
As the drawing and painting on photographs has developed, it’s inevitable I would start to paint without the photograph (2025) The themes continue, spots, sex, touch, spurting, ripeness, curves, sensuality, cocks, bums, nipples, tits, holes, fecundity, self-portraiture.
Investing
My work is for sale, usually in Limited Editions of 5 0r 10 with two Artist Proof. Sizes vary for each print but are mostly A0, A1, A2, 12 x 16”, 20 x 16” and 20 x 24”. Larger sizes can be made available for certain images.
Recent exhibitions
2027:New York. Leigh Bowery. Powerhouse Arts. 2026:Tokyo. Icons and Image Makers. Chanel Nexus Hall. Antwerp.The Antwerp Six. MoMu Fashion Museum.
2025:London. Leigh Bowery. Tate Modern. 2018: London. Hard Man Is Good To Find. The Photographers Gallery.
I have work in the collections of The Smithsonian Washington, The Royal Academy London, The National Portrait Gallery London, The National Portrait Gallery Australia, The Cavallino Gallery Venice, The Nicholas Treadwell Gallery Austria, The Currell Collection London and many private collections. My work is also collected extensively by Daisy Green Food Ltd, who own Larry’s Bar at the NPG where four of my works hang and others hang at their sites, Ziggy Green W1, Margot SW4 and Glamarama Green SW7.
If you are interested in investing in a piece and would like further information please do get in touch at david@davidgwinnutt.com
Prices range from £400 to £5000. Bespoke pieces priced on application