In the same way as committing yourself to paint is a personal expression, so our individual response to our environment is also personal. If one considers nature to be infinite, then it is fair to assume that whatever combination of shapes and colours are related to each other, nature has already done it somewhere before us, either in micro-organisms or large formations. Therefore, as artists, what we produce is largely re-creative rather than creative. This line of reasoning has led me to believe that simply to produce portraits of areas of landscape or to analyze what is seen and re-assemble it in a different composition is not really good enough, although it may require a great deal of skill. My own response to all this is to try and convey on the flat surface an emotional reaction to an environmental experience, thus leading me away from a purely figurative or semi-abstract treatment of the subject and to try to attain what David Bomberg called "the spirit of the mass". These reactions are usually general, rather than specific, and come about when in front of the canvas rather than in front of an object, although it should be said that probably nothing would evolve without a close observation of nature. For this observation drawing is important, which is why a drawing book usually travels with me wherever I go. Having taken these things into consideration, the painting itself has to stand up and speak for itself. Being non-figurative it means that it cannot fall back on qualities as an illustration, but must work on a painterly level, or fall apart.

'Stan Davis'

EDUCATION

Completed full time Secondary Education 1948.
( Outstanding subjects - Drawing and Painting).

CAREER DETAILS

EXHIBITIONS