Dave Sharp has been performance painting for over a decade. It started where a lot of obsessions do — in a garage. Fascinated by celebrity imagery since school, drawn to the way famous faces mix with colour and light, he taught himself to paint fast, and began performing at local events in his hometown.
That self-taught act became a profession. Since 2014 Dave has performed full-time as a live speed painter, developing a performance that is as much theatre as it is painting — a giant canvas, a chosen soundtrack, and an image that resolves out of apparent chaos in front of a live audience.
His takes ten minutes.
The act has travelled. Notable tours have taken Dave across China, Singapore, Romania, Sweden, Egypt, the USA, Canada, Iceland and Portugal — performing for clients in stadiums, conference halls, private venues and on live television.
UK audiences may have seen him paint live on Britain’s Got Talent, BBC Breakfast, Blue Peter and This Morning. Along the way the work has been used to raise over £900,000 for charity — a finished, signed canvas making a powerful auction lot when the performance is done.
Today Dave’s live painting is booked by brands, broadcasters and private clients worldwide — and his studio paintings are collected through the Dave Sharp Studio Archive. Two sides of the same craft: one performed, one to keep.