David Pugh

David Pugh was born in Rochdale in 1968. He studied fine art at the Rochdale College of Art and at Byam Shaw in North London.

While studying at Byam Shaw in the late 80’s, David and fellow student Toby Morgan founded the art group Critical Decor. Critical Decor enjoyed success throughout the 1990’s producing work that sought to challenge both the London art world and the YBA movement of which they found themselves a part. Their work encompassed painting, sculpture, written text and photography. The duo appeared in and contributed to several leading arts and cultural publications including ArtForum, Frieze Magazine, The Face and Dazed and Confused. Critical Decor exhibited extensively in group and solo exhibitions in museums and public art galleries around the world. They appeared in seminal group shows of the 90’s including ‘Minky Manky’ curated by Carl Freedman at the South London Gallery (1995) and ‘Pictura Britannica: Art from Britain’ curated by Bernice Murphy (1997-1998) at the Museum of Modern Art, Sydney.

Following a long career as a museum curator David has returned to painting and developing a range of creative projects including Paper on Wall of which he is the founder and owner.