Michael G Davies | Realism | Expressionism | Contemporary

I am a realist with expressionist tendencies. I commence with a drawing (pencil on paper)as a guide, not knowing quite what I want to make, even though the drawing is usually from observation.I then make an attempt to work it into something that I want as I proceed. It is exciting when something happens. I have of late been working completely from my imagination with no preliminary work e.g. “Submerged Head and Gull” Of course these are always representational.
My watercolours are paintings in their own right – not preliminary sketches for later oil paintings.

Review by Julian Bell (Sussex Artist)

Michael Davies works in his studio in Bexhill-on-Sea. He trained at Canterbury College, then gained a Fine Art MA from Manchester in 1985. Keenly aware of art’s history and its possibilities, Michael works painstakingly to articulate his view of the world. ‘Davies has pursued his life’s vocation without patronage and the systems of symbolism that sustained them [El Greco and Velázquez], but he is driven by the same broadly poetic or philosophical impulses. 

What does the world feel like? How can paint sing in tune? These are the sorts of question (rather than, for instance, ‘What does art mean now?’ or ‘Where has our culture got to?’ that come alive in his daily practice.’