Location: United Kingdom
Phil Davis creates work that combines vibrant colour and raw artistic experimentation with intricate details of the urban landscape and figurative form. In this process he paints work that is dynamic and emotionally charged, and which captures the essence of exploration, depicts a sense of psychological narrative, and reflects an evolving connection to diverse cultures and the ongoing journey for personal discovery.
His early forays into travel were to have a profound effect on his passion for depicting the raw physicality, bustle, and architectural detail of the urban landscape, as well as viewing each person within the anonymous crowds as an individual story with a richness and complexity to their own personal journey within the epic physicality of the landscape.
As well as portraying a heightened sense of the strange beauty within the physicality and architectural diversity of the urban landscape, he aims to portray the sense of life’s complex journey and desire to understand one’s place in the world within this landscape, both for himself, and for the anonymous people whose existence in this world also leaves a trace of their own being.
The latest art works from Phil Davis
“Golden Hour. Westminster & Thames Study, London”
In this heightened, almost hallucinatory depiction of the London skyline, I tried to capture the fleeting transition of the city during the transcendent colour period of the 'golden hour' as it prepares for evening. Using the London Eye as a central focal point, this study evokes a sense of bliss and spiritual beauty found in the intensity of the late afternoon light.
I created the layers on this piece to feel as though it is breathing; the architecture of Westminster and the Thames area pulsates with a shimmering energy. Through numerous applications of paint and dense layers of palette knife work, the colours on the buildings appear to shift and actively radiate changes in tone. I hope that in employing this technique, I create a kinetic effect where the sunset doesn't just sit on the buildings but moves across them, making the transition of the day feel alive and radiant.
“Ballerina Study. Heart Of A Tornado”
Capturing a moment of total surrender to her internal world, this work explores the synergy between a dancer’s emotional state and the music that propels her toward divine transcendence. It is an exploration of the bliss state of limitless creative release, where elevated possibilities are realised through the act of dance.
The uninhibited background symbolises the noise of her emotion giving way to an ecstatic wave of creativity. Though she moves with a possessed intensity, she finds within it the path to her own inner peace.
The dancer’s arch anchors the composition with a defiant poise that dives with full force into the explosive interplay of colour enveloping her, as if she were at the heart of a tornado. She commands the whole wave of her emotions, owning every mark and gesture on display as an extension of her own spirit. Ultimately, it is a celebration of the restless human soul finding tranquility amidst the noise through total harmony with the creative state.
“As The Music Moves Me. Second Study”
This piece focuses on the meditative, internal world of the dancer, and explores the private, singular connection with the music that guides her.
The composition utilises a palette of turquoise, green, and golds hues, creating a space that feels both fluid and grounded. Through expressive palette knife work and layers of impasto, the background is transformed into a rhythmic tapestry—each stroke and splatter acting as a visual representation of a musical note, and the sense of hypnotic connection the dancer feels with the music.
The dancer, caught in a graceful arc of movement, becomes a conduit for these sounds, her form emerging from and dissolving back into the textured atmosphere. It is a study of presence and surrender, capturing the fleeting moment where the physical body and the auditory world become one, and meet together in an almost spiritual takeover.
