Publications
Paul Davies
Hanmer - Exhibition catalogue
Author Tim Olsen
Publisher Tim Olsen Gallery
| Price AUD$ 15.00+p&h |
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Published in 2010
Channelling the bleak panoramic vision of a young David Hockney, Australian artist Paul Davies's newest series of paintings, on show this month at Sydney's Tim Olsen Gallery, are a contemporary lesson in pure aesthetics.
Taking his original spark of inspiration from an Aspen holiday magazine, Davies's block-coloured, eerily empty paintings are a clear expression of the artist's obsession with line and form.
With a keen interest in the Bauhaus and late modernist buildings, Davies's paintings offer a striking synthesis between artistic control and abstraction. Constructed using both stencils and free hand painting, Davies multi-disciplinary approach results in overall flat paintings with an unexpected depth.
With 1970's low slung Miami-style buildings peering ghoulishly out from amid the Peter Doig-esque trees scattering the foreground of the canvas, Davies invokes a disconcerting sense of nostalgia.
Devoid of life, the paintings are lent a surprising warmth by Davies's striking colour combinations - Hockney he may not be, but there is no denying that what Davies does, he does remarkably well.
Theo van den Broeke
Arts Writer for Wallpaper* Magazine
Design: Rick Foster
With special thanks to Tim Olsen, Ben Ali Ong, Pete Moore, Patrick de Teliga,
Jonathan Whitehouse, Sarah Noey, Edward Woodley, James Mataitis Bailey, Katrina Arent and Michael Boland.
