John Davies

JOHN DAVIES (1946).
"Numbered head."
Resin and painted fiberglass.
Measurements: 40x 22 x 22 x 30 cm.
Exhibitions: IVAM, Valencia, 2005. "Joh Davies, sculptures and drawings since 1968". Reproduced in the catalog: Gallery, Marlboruogh, London. Private collection, Barcelona.

John Davies was born in Cheshire in 1946. He studied painting at Hull and Manchester art colleges between 1963 and 1967, followed by two years at the Slade School of Art, and then a sculpture scholarship at Gloucester College of Art. Although his work can be related to that of other contemporary painters and sculptors concerned with the representation of man - Bacon, Freud, Giacometti, Segal, Hanson or, in a closer context, Antonio Lopez, among others - Davies continues to occupy a singular place in British sculpture due to his personal vision of human representation. He lives and works between Kent and London. As one of the few sculptors working in expressionism in 1980s Britain, Davies created sculptures and drawings that made direct reference to the human figure, rather than abstract works, very fashionable at the time. Early figures were often arranged in carefully positioned relationships, depicting silent dramas through gazes and gestures, often in seemingly ritualistic poses. Davies' figures are often molded in part from real life, giving them an integral sense of humanity. His early works were existentialist figures painted in gray, almost morbid, but evolved into bright, lively, colorful works.

His solo and group exhibitions include: "9 Creative Truths", Torreón de Lozoya, Segovia; Summer Exhibition, Marlborough Fine Art; "Dr d and other Drawings", Marlborough Graphics, London (2006); "Tate Sculpture: The Human Figure in British Art From Moore to Gormley", Millenium Galleries, Sheffield; Bilbao Fine Arts Museum; Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencia (2005); Marlborough Fine Art, London; Les Jeux dans l'Art du XXème Siècle, Le Bellevue, Biarritz; Palacio de Montemuzo, La Lonja, Zaragoza (2003); Contemporary British Sculpture, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; Den Haag Sculptuur, Holland (1999); Marlborough Fine Art, London; Bodyworks, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge (1997); Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (1996); Centro de Arte Palacio Almundi, Murcia; Marlborough Fine Art, London (1993); Marlborough Graphics, London (1992); Marlborough Gallery, New York (1989); The Face, The Arkansas Art Centre, Arkansas (1988); A Singular Vision, Paintings of the Figure by Contemporary British Artists, Arts Council traveling exhibition (1985); The Whitechapel Gallery (1972).