The Nine British Art

31/10/2022

LEIGH DAVIS - PUSHING BOUNDARIES

Pushing Boundaries feels like such an apt and layered title for this forthcoming exhibition which is opening on November 9th. Not only has Davis pushed back from the boundaries that more literal representations of landscapes or structures impose, he's also challenged himself to develop from 2021's Further into Abstraction series something even more fluid and energetic. "As an artist, you obviously want people to understand your style, to find a connection and a thread through it all," he admits. "But it's also a constant process of refining and gradually evolving what you do." That observation applies to Davis's sculpture, too. The five new sculptures in the show might bear some resemblance to his previous work - but the relationship between his painting and sculpture has evolved. Where initially the paintings and sculptures in a series had specific relationships to each other, now the only similarity is in style. "Whatever medium I'm working in, the idea of composition, colour and surface texture remains the same," he says. "So I might remember running my hand over a piece of coarse, gritty, grainy stone in the Isles of Scilly; those elements stay in my mind to the extent that when I'm working on the surface texture, I'll mix sawdust into the paint. But then I might also scrape, scar and scratch into the layers too - you get this real vibration and tension in the application." Fully illustrated catalogue and price list available online or by phone: info@theninebritishart.co.uk Tel: 020 7930 9293

Works of Art