Will Datson was born in 1959 in the North-East of England. From an early age he was drawn towards diverse forms of music, painting and writing. He encountered art indirectly through an early passion for music, eclectically ranging across european art-rock, classical experimentalists and punk. As a member of a teenage band he moved to London in 1978. Living in a lively scene of artists and musicians in Brixton, he formed the band Esgazette, producing distinctive songs and soundtrack for film. This project continued in several forms for most of the 1980s, subsequently in West Wales, later in Edinburgh. His artistic activities throughout this period were largely confined to (often handmade) journal notebooks composed of painting, drawing and writing.
For more than twenty years, he has worked under the banner of The Underwater Press, a title which originated with the making of books for friends' children. This has been the source of innumerable idiosyncratic limited edition books and artwork. More recently, the 'press' has been developed on the internet and he has been awarded for his digital art by software company Adobe. It is difficult to point to a typical work or to place his career within any particular movement. He is always to be found working on several projects at once, and with interests as diverse as psychology, technology, cookery and gardening, the results are always intriguing.
Exhibition introduction
More details on the Axis Website, a database of contemporary British artists.