Acrylic paint on primed cream cracker, 7 x 7 cm

David Alker is an artist working across a range of media. His practice includes reconstructions of historic sites and meticulously constructed small-scale painting. He analyses our perception of ‘history’ as it appears through cultural frames, devices, systems and physical structures. These include the landscape as seen through the diorama, the documentary archive photograph, aspect perception in optical illusions and the rhetorical conventions of ‘history painting’.
As an artist Alker has exhibited widely including solo shows and presentations in the North West at HOME/Cornerhouse, Castlefield Gallery Manchester, Rochdale Art Gallery, The Walker and STATIC Liverpool and The Scott Gallery Lancaster. His work has been included in group shows at The Barbican, The National Portrait Gallery and The Royal Academy. David Alker and Peter Liddell's 'Record Collections' have been shown many times including at Atelier Grammophon Hannover, The Washing Room Rome, Galerie Praxis Hagen Berlin and Galerie Peter Borchardt Hamburg. Alker and Liddell made a number of works associated with the post-punk/arthouse/garage/rock band The Fall and in 2011 their paintings were included on two Fall albums This Nation’s Saving Grace and The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall.
David Alker lives in Manchester. He studied Fine Art and History of Art at the University of Leeds. He has taught at a number of art schools and is the former Head of Fine Art and Photography at the University of Central Lancashire; and Fine Art Programme Leader at Liverpool John Moores University.