
Exhibition
Meet the Artist - Louise Davies
03 Nov 2018
For Arts Sake
London, United Kingdom
Mon-Fri, 10am-5.30pm, Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 12-5pm
Free
Glorious colour-soaked landscapes in oil and print explore the memory and emotion of place in British painter-printmaker Louise Davies’s spectacular new solo show
British painter and printmaker Louise Davies evokes the drama of landscape at For Arts Sake this winter.
From windswept Yorkshire moorlands to autumnal London river scenes and sun-drenched Spanish almond groves, ‘The Elements in Colour’ brings together Louise’s oil paintings, etchings and monoprints in one large-scale solo show.
In these beautiful works, Louise’s fluid lines, shifting shapes and sumptuous palette conjure a vivid sense of emotion and memory around time and place.
Says Louise: “Memory is important in my work. Perhaps it stems from a childhood in the West Country, playing and walking in the landscape, feeling that closeness to nature. I am sure we bring a lot of things from our past into the making of artwork, even if it is in our subconscious.
“I am certainly trying to spark an emotional response from the viewer. I get a very strong reaction when I see a landscape of beauty; even if suddenly the weather changes – it’s that still beautiful moment with the light, feel and drama of the rain or a storm.”
Key pieces include ‘The Four Seasons’, a quartet of monoprints that sit together and individually, exploring the changing landscape through spring, summer, autumn and winter.
‘Shadows on the Moors’ captures the changing light as clouds flit across the Yorkshire Moors. “On a sunny but cloudy day the shadows move so quickly and immediately change the colours and shapes of the landscape. It’s mesmerising,” says Louise.
‘Red Bay’ is a large oil on canvas painting inspired by the Spanish landscape: “It’s a piece looking out across the bay, capturing the sunset and trying to evoke the heat of the day.”
The two-plate etching and collagraph ‘The Call of the Sea’ is another Yorkshire-inspired piece. “I visited Whitby and, walking up the hill, I looked down and heard the sound of the sea before I actually saw it. I felt it was an important thing to get across: the sound of nature - how it can be all-consuming.”
In all of Louise’s works, whether oil or etching, her painterly approach sings through, pulling together intense layers of colour and overlapping, abstract forms with sweeping lineation.
The exhibition is free, with all pieces available to buy.
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