Born: 1961 Derbyshire
1979- 81 Worked as an assistant in the London studio of artist Brian Clarke
1981 -84 Studied Fine Art (Photography) at Hornsey School of Art & Middlesex Poly.
1982 Meets artist Patrick Procktor when photographing him and becomes his companion living in Procktor’s house in Manchester Street, W1. Meets many of Procktor’s contemporaries such as Ossie Clark and David Hockney
1984 Exhibited New Contemporaries at the I.C.A London.
2000 First major solo show at The Fine Art Society, New Bond St, which is the cover story for The Independent on Saturday Magazine.
2003 The Met Museum New York exhibits portrait of Leigh Bowery in skirts as part of Bravehearts: Men in Skirts exhibition.
2005 The NPG London acquire six portraits from David’s 1980’s archive.
The NPG Australia acquire David’s portrait ‘Leigh Bowery in fur coat’.
Launches the Pink Jack flag at London’s Europride, London. The flag is an instant hit and becomes an internationally recognised emblem of British Pride - the first time a National flag has been adapted this way.
2013 Is voted at No16 on The Independent’s Pink List, which acknowledges the top most influential gay people in Britain today.
2014 Acclaimed American author Edmund White, pens a portrait of David in his Parisian memoir ‘Inside the Pearl. David is one of only three British characters to feature in the book. The others are Alan Hollinghurst and Neil Bartlett.
2015 The NPG London acquire a portrait of David (a self-portrait with Quentin Crisp) in recognition of his role in modern gay history as a photographer and creating the Pink Jack.
2016 The NPG London acquire fourteen more portraits from his 1980’s archive
2017 The NPG London exhibit ‘Before We Were Men’. Ten portraits from David’s 1980’s archive
2017 The Currell Collection acquire three portraits, John Maybury, Derek Jarman & Cerith Wyn Evans. www.currellcollection.com
Sept 2017 Dear David… an exhibition of photographs, letters and stories from David’s archive opens in Liverpool as part of Homotopia Arts Festival