Collection: Extra Gum London Bus

In Extra Gum London Bus, David Wright’s charming cityscapes and pop culture drawings venture across the globe, through the streets, and around town. Outlined in thick black marker and radiating brilliant color are the towering minarets of Taj Mahal, tandem bicycles on Amsterdam streets, Floridian lemons set in jubilant trees.  

Travel (and musing about travel) is an important part of Wright’s life and work, and his drawings give equal regard to the monumental and the mundane. Cassettes, a Walkman, vintage watches in various working conditions, headphones, cables, timers, and other gadgets populate Wright’s desk while he works, keeping time and playing tunes. When he arrives at the studio, his day often begins with a walk to the corner store to get lunch. The store is the subject of a recent piece, appearing in the exhibition amidst the likes of a disco ball, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Shanghai skyline.  

Wright’s voice is understated, dazzling, and clever, and his drawings are infused with a singular sense of visual logic and humor. In Australia, two cars navigate a road that extends over Kata Tjuta into the sky. In another drawing, a deadpan blue road spans the width of a narrow page, hovering above a pool of water. The road gets wider at either edge of the page, at once suggesting an infinite highway and a curious, finite path. It’s unclear where the road is, and whether it connects to the rest of the world or to nothing at all.  

Throughout the exhibition, observing the streets of Tokyo, Atlanta, and Sanaa, one wonders, has David been there? In conversation and in his work, Wright gives little away, providing just enough to hint at something out of frame. It’s as if each drawing is from the b-roll of a movie, and the camera, slyly, never pans left. We linger. Cars on busy streets, buildings with grids of windows, the recognizable hum of a city that is thousands of miles away. No matter the continent or whether one has been, there is always something familiar. In Extra Gum London Bus, David Wright closes great distances.