Moonlight and Starlight and Candlelight
Valley of the Kings
Cherry Wine
Don Davis
Artist Statement
Art is never created in a vacuum. Every creative act is inspired, either positively or negatively, by one that has gone before-whether that influence is acknowledged or not.
As a life-long lover of music, I find it an indispensable source of inspiration in the studio. Inevitably, the images that emerge on the canvas are a visual representation of what I’m hearing. Equally, if not more important, my drive to paint is informed by the legendary generation of painters subsequently known as the New York School. Given the long history of art, the idea that a painting need not represent a recognizable object or objects is a relatively new one. It was only a little over a hundred years ago, beginning in Europe, that the possibility of purely abstract painting was publicly addressed. However, it wasn’t until the mid-20th century that the Abstract Expressionists brought to worldwide attention the notion that a work of art can depict nothing more than a concept, an emotion...or a song.
I believe that Abstract Expressionism is as vital and relevant today as it ever was, and my art is an extension of their work. Using acrylic paint and mediums on canvas I utilize brushes, palette knives, brayers, sponges and various other implements to build up, and when necessary, scrape away layers of texture and color. This technique both obscures and reveals what lies underneath the surface. I think of my work as a dialogue-through-time with the painters that I most admire, but not a dialogue that is mired in imitation. Producing a slavish copy of another artist’s style holds no interest for me. But by immersing myself in their stories, absorbing their varied and often wildly disparate imagery, synthesizing their influences and then responding with my own unique vision-there I find my joy.
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