Richard Davis's paintings point to real times and places existing both in the past and present. His interpretations of commonplace and ephemeral subjects suggest permanence. Yet, in the tight balances that characterize his compositions and subjects, something feels slightly out of kilter as if change is imminent. Davis's subjects are the instants that stand still just before they vanish and the rich dimensionality of reality that comprises as much that is unseen as is seen. - Tom Smart
Click the above image to see a remarkably detailed, larger than life image of Kindling and Mirrors. Zoom in and pan around the entire painting to see the delightful, rich surface of one of my best oil emulsion paintings.
This project started when the painting came back from the Figurativas 2019 show in Barcelona. I wanted to revarnish the work so took the opportunity to try something I've long thought of, making a high resolution "photo" of a painting using my flatbed scanner. It took 40 scans all carefully stitched together, to make the 800 meg file. It came out so well that I decided to ask my painter friend and website coding wizard John Hansen, if he could figure out how to do the zoom. A short while later he sent me an e-mail, "Giv'r a go", and here we have it.
My Basement series has now received two honours, first place for Basement Self Portrait at the 2013 Kingston Prize, and now the Honourable Mention for Kindling and Mirrors at Figurativas 2019. So I've made a new page to showcase several of those works. Click to view the Basement Series.
If you would like to be notified when I've added to or updated my site, please fill in the contact form and click the appropriate box. And if you have any thoughts or questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Regards, Richard
A selection of photographs from the studio, and beyond.
Below are the most recent photographs. Visit the Journal for more.
Richard Davis' paintings point to real times and places existing both in the past and present. His interpretations of commonplace and ephemeral subjects suggest permanence. Yet, in the tight balances that characterize his compositions and subjects, something feels slightly out of kilter as if change is imminent. Davis’s subjects are the instants that stand still just before they vanish and the rich dimensionality of reality that comprises as much that is unseen as is seen. - Tom Smart