Sweeping brush strokes and negative space give way to the new existence of an unearthly portrait of a beautiful woman, a creation that only dreams could conjure up. These are my first thoughts of Christian David Moore’s “ Nearness of you.”
It was this specific gouache watercolour painting that led me to pursue meeting him one late, relaxed afternoon at a pub in Richmond Park. Not long after I arrive at the venue of our meeting, I receive a text from the artist David Moore “Are you here?” I reply: “Yes. There’s a funeral party inside, but I’m outside.” We had already been exchanging emails for a number of weeks - so meeting up was momentous. Soon enough Moore calls me, and I realise that I’m at the wrong pub. Apparently, there are two near each other, one in Richmond and one at Kew Gardens, which is the one I was at. I wait, as he’s now on his way over, which is perfect, as I try to overcome my utter embarrassment and convince myself it must be due to the fact that I’m Canadian.
Shortly after he shows up and takes a seat. He’s a dapper and very well put together man, handsome, and dressed smartly in a white crisp dress shirt, blue jeans, and a black suit jacket with a silk pocket handkerchief. Out of breath, he asks “ can I get you something to drink? ” I laugh — “I’m the one that should be offering you a drink” I say.
Moore’s been drawing for as long as he can remember, “ but I always didn’t paint women to start off with” he laughs. “ I was never afraid of a white canvas, even Robin, my brother in law says it’s the most frighting thing for him, but I’m the complete opposite - I love it.” He grew up in Cheshire, and recalls his early days of painting at school an how he stopped once starting university. “I didn't go to art college, I studied business instead” he says, “ my parents always worked for themselves and had their own businesses, so I thought that was the route I should go down.”
He went to an all boys catholic school where it was more about getting people to do business and economics, which he says pushed him in the opposite direction, away from art.
After finishing university, alongside painting in his spare time, Moore followed his sister and moved to London. He explains that he was already with an agency in London, “I applied to 3 agents, when I was still at home, and now I’ve been with the same one for 12 years, I’ve only had one agent, I guess I’m a super loyal person”. Back then, he was constantly being compared to similar artists. “ It was a serious problem ” he says sternly, “ because people would contact my agent and say “ he's great, but can you do something a bit more like this? and would pick another illustrator as reference.” He was often compared to David Downton.
“I’ve been really lucky because I now I have specific magazines that come to me for work, so I know every month I have that on, and I’ve been really fortunate with that. Illustration has had like a renaissance, which for me has been fantastic.” Moore smiles. Over the years the demand and popularity for fashion illustration has grown enabling him to collaborate with brands such as Chanel, YSL, Tatler and Saatchi. "Ironically the stuff I do when I’m not commissioned is more in demand," he says. “Recently I signed up to a new gallery called OnGallary, based in Chelsea. They approached me and asked if they could sell prints of my work, so I've signed up with them and basically gave them the rights to sell one of my prints, as well, they are commissioning me to draw new pieces.” Since signing up, in the last 6 months, OnGallary has done a few shows for Moore. “I’ve been producing some of my best work recently, mostly because I feel less pressure” he says.“ The painting you picked, “Nearness of you” was the first one I did for this gallery, and it started a whole new wave of my life.”