Martin Davis is an artist inspired by light, atmosphere and colour, an artist that is not bound by familiarity or themes. Martin has been creative all his life but only turned professional after leaving the Fire and Rescue service 6 years ago. Within the last few years Martin has exhibited across the UK and is currently in the middle of a solo show at The Rainbow Gallery.
Martin’s art has received critical acclaim when his work ‘First light Dorsoduro’ was Shortlisted for the ‘Art of Giving’ Competition at the Saatchi Gallery in London and his ‘Cardinal Sin Anger In Tottenham’ was shortlisted for the Saatchi Online Showdown and for the National Open Art Competition, an amazing achievement. As well as exhibiting Martin also spends time demonstrating his work at various galleries, we can safely say Martin has found his way on his artistic journey. We loved the diversity of Martin’s art, his ability to turn his hand to landscapes, abstracts and figurative work. As ‘Anger In Tottenham’ is one of our favourite pieces by Martin we are very excited to see the completed range of the seven deadly sins.
There’s still time to go to Martin’s solo exhibition details are at the bottom of this post. Thank you Martin for sharing your work with us.
Self Taught or Art School?
Hi I’m Martin Davis a freelance fine artist from Derbyshire UK. I am a visual artist specializing in painting (generally oils). I’m a self-taught artist, if you discount an art “O” level from school, and although I’ve always been creative I didn’t become serious about my work until I retired from the fire & rescue service 6 years ago and found I had the time to commit to it.
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
If I were to choose just one work of art to own, an impossible dilemma anyway, it would have to be Picasso’s “Weeping woman”.
How would you describe your style?
Although I maintain a wide range of artistic interest I guess I would describe my own work as instinctively semi abstract but always executed in a painterly style. Much to my constant frustration I would love to develop a looser much more expressive style, that some of the old masters like Degas seem to manage so effortlessly.
Where are your favourite places to view art?
If we’re talking galleries my favourite places to view art are Tate Modern, Nottingham Contemporary and I love NSW Gallery in Sydney, but I prefer to see art in a less formal environment such as a studio or workshop or even someone’s home.
Self portrait 2011
Who are your favourite artists and why?
Choosing favourite artists is fraught with difficulty and in the end fairly pointless. It is also inevitably a moving feast which varies over time with my own artistic practices, but in any listing my ever presents would be Picasso (sorry!), Richter, Degas, Hopper, Van Gogh, Bacon and Miro.
Picking just one would be impossible but at the same time I cannot envisage any artist dislodging Picasso from top spot; Picasso is a shoe-in because of his wondrous mark making ability which to me is nigh on perfect, uncluttered and so readily fluent.
What or who inspires your art?
I have any number of inspirational sources but mostly it is just the quality of light and colour that I see (or remember from the past) – and the vehicle which triggers it can be anything, TV, magazine imagery, real life……..I even quite often find an associated inspiration from the written word, especially poetry.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
My studio is in the garden at home and is really just a big wooden shed – but I designed it and it has lots of borrowed light and is lined internally and coloured white.
Do you have any studio rituals?
The only real rituals I have to own up to in the studio are;
-Putting my mug of tea within easy reach before I start
-Switching on some radio/ipod for music
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Doing nothing at all initially except listen to music and concentrate. Music always puts me in the right mood to start work.
What are you working on currently?
Although I usually have more than one piece of work on the go at once, at the moment I am trying to sharpen my portraiture skills and I have one of Nicole Kidman (subject is not relevant , it’s all about the light) in the final stages – see picture.
Where can we buy your art?
At the moment you can buy my art directly from my website or approach me via Facebook or Twitter or Linked in or WordPress….and other social media sites too. My stuff is available from galleries in Derbyshire such as Leabrooks Gallery, Cromford Art Gallery or Whitepeaks Fine Art and online from any number of galleries but principally Saatchi Online Art. However I prefer the direct approach and especially welcome approaches about commissions.
What are your ambitions?
My ambitions really are just to make my artwork as good as I possibly can – which is a never-ending journey in itself – and to keep improving and developing. Above all I value critical acclaim over market success and my ultimate dream would be to create and be remembered for just one iconic piece of work. In the meantime though I’ll just keep plugging away at it.
www.martindavisartist.co.uk
We welcome comments!
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