Paul Davies
Australian-born artist Paul Davies' work is influenced by the conflict between the built and natural worlds, design and art, and abstraction and figuration. By combining painting, stencilling, photography, and sculpture, Davies' approach demonstrates these boundaries and relationships.
In this age of monitoring, Davies collages and replicates the neutral façade of modern buildings, blurring the lines between what is exposed and what is kept hidden. Using hand-cut stencils made from the artist's own digital pictures, Davies observes how information is frequently repeated. They are then used in a variety of media to obscure the difference between an original work and a copy.
Davies's work has been acquired by and exhibited at the University of California Irvine, Institute and Museum of California Art, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Palm Springs Art Museum, Crocker Art Museum, MAK Center for Art and Architecture and the Laguna Art Museum. In 2016 he completed a residency at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture Phoenix and work from this is now held in the permanent collection at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery. In 2013 he was awarded a residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Davies was featured with Luc Tuymans and Peter Doig in the essay 'Limbo Architecture – Painters of Modernism' by Aaron Betsky, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum (2006–14), for the May 2014 edition of Architecture Review.
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PAUL DAVIES AT TAMARISK CLUB, PALM SPRINGS
Work by Paul has been included in the current exhibition ART AT TAMARISK curated by Rochelle Steiner (former chief curator at Palm Springs Art Museum and Serpentine Gallery, London).
The program features an annual rotation of art works organised by guest curators. Image: Paul Davies, Pink, Yellow, Blue, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 91 cm
PAUL DAVIES AT HOME OF THE ARTS, GOLD COAST
Davies' work is being exhibited in HOTA's Lost in Palm Springs exhibition from 11 March – 21 May.
This multidisciplinary exhibition brings together fourteen creative minds who respond to, capture, or re-imagine the magical qualities of the landscape and the celebrate mid-century modern architecture of the desert city of California.
Image: Paul Davies, Built Landscape III (detail), 2015. Vinyl acrylic copolymer on canvas, 180 x 147 cm.
GETTY MUSEUM ACQUISITION
Artist Paul Davies first became interested in photography while watching his dad develop photos in a darkroom. Now aged 44, he's just had one of his artworks, 'Belvedere Loop' acquired by the prestigious Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
"I never forget seeing the piece of white photo paper going into the developing bath and just appearing," he says of watching his father in his home darkroom. Asked how it feels to be in the Getty collection, he says it reminds him "of the excitement of getting into photography as a kid."
Image: Paul Davies, Belvedere Loop, 1/4 acquired by the Getty Museum. Photo by @louisekennerley.
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW FEATURE
Matthew Drummond at the AFR reported on Paul Davies' recent acquisition by the Getty Museum.
"A single artwork involves many layers; a photograph will be cut up and made into a collage, the pieces placed onto paper that’s been treated with a light-sensitive liquid drawing upon the photogram technique that predates photography. It’s the depth of those layers that has attracted the eye of the prestigious Getty Museum in Los Angeles, which has just acquired one of Davies’ works."
Read the full article here.
PAUL DAVIES INSTALLATION AT WALSH STREET, SOUTH YARRA
The celebrated open-plan home of Melbourne architect Robin Boyd in Walsh Street (South Yarra) provided a perfect subject for Paul to explore the Modernist idea of ‘bringing the outdoors inside’.
We were delighted to see various images of Davies’ work installed in house that inspired his body of work.
In early 2020, after living in L.A. painting his well-known arrangements of modernist house exteriors, Davies returned to Australia to expand upon his much-admired style of inverting and flipping details of the uniquely Australian nature and architecture in bold abstract forms.
Please see our website to view Against Light online or to download the exhibition catalogue.
PAUL DAVIES AT MUSEUM OF BRISBANE
Paul Davies is in the current group exhibition Making Place at the Museum of Brisbane.
Making Place is available to view March 26, 2022 - November 30, 2023.
Artists featured include Judy Watson, Richard Randall, Noel McKenna, William Bustard, Vida Lahey, Jane Grealy, Danie Mellor, Kenneth Jack, Sam Fulbrook, Charles Lancaster, Robert Brownhall, Margaret Olley, Stephen Nothling, Margaret Cilento, Lloyd Rees, Paul Davies, Mia Boe and more.
Paul Davies, Centenary Pool Brisbane, Yellow/Grey 2008, acrylic on canvas. Photo: Christopher Hagen
PAUL DAVIES ON THE COVER OF LC. REVUE DE RECHERCHES SUR LE CORBUSIER
Work by Paul Davies is featured on the cover of issue no. 3 of LC. Revue de recherches sur Le Corbusier, a journal published by Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València, organised by Arnaud Decelles at Fondation Le Corbusier.
To enquire about available works by Paul Davies, please contact the gallery.
Image: LC. Revue de recherches sur Le Corbusier, no. 3, 2021, cover art by Paul Davies
PHOTOGRAMS BY PAUL DAVIES ACQUIRED BY UNIVERSITY OF THE SUNSHINE COAST ART GALLERY
Paul Davies's series of photograms, Sunset on the Quarter City Block, 2021, were recently acquired by the University of the Sunshine Coast Art Gallery.
To enquire about available works, please contact the gallery.
Image: Paul Davies, Sunset on the Quarter City Block, 2021
PAUL DAVIES INTERVIEWED ON EATING WITH ARTISTS
Paul Davies was recently interviewed on the blog Eating with Artists. Recently returned from Los Angeles, the artist shares his favourite LA cafes and restaurants.
Image: Paul Davies, Pink fade on modern home, 2020
PAUL DAVIES IN CONVERSATION WITH MAROON 5'S JESSE CARMICHAEL
Artist and Los Angeles Soho House member Paul Davies, whose mural overlooks the rooftop pool at Soho Warehouse, curated a playlist based on his recent paintings with Maroon 5’s Jesse Carmichael.
Listen to the friends discuss how the collaboration came about and the process of translating artworks into a soundscape.
Image: Paul Davies, Built facade in foliage, 2020
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