John Davies was born in Cheshire in 1946. He studied painting at Hull and Manchester College of Art (1963-67), after which he spent two years at the Slade School of Fine Art, London. He was awarded a sculpture fellowship at Gloucester College of Art in 1989 and in the following year he won the Sainsbury award. The most important solo exhibition…
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John Davies was born in Cheshire in 1946. He studied painting at Hull and Manchester College of Art (1963-67), after which he spent two years at the Slade School of Fine Art, London. He was awarded a sculpture fellowship at Gloucester College of Art in 1989 and in the following year he won the Sainsbury award. The most important solo exhibition for John Davies in his early career was held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, in 1972, followed by another at the same venue three years later. A more recent exhibition was at the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester, in 1995-96. His sculpture and drawings have been included in many group exhibitions in Britain, Europe, America, India, Australia and Japan, with pieces being acquired in most of those countries for both public and private collections.
John Davies's sculpture and drawings are centred on the human figure. He has written, 'People are our whole world, sun, moon and stars.' Early figures were often arranged in carefully positioned relationships, playing out a silent drama through look and gesture. Gesture remains important in his single figures, where an extended hand or slight inclination of a head might indicate another presence. The presence of others may also be suggested by a small hand against a large face or several hands joined together. Heads, from small pieces that can be held between two fingers to giant heads like huge rocks, eroded by the wind and sea, demonstrate his skill with scale and drawing. Finely delineated features and well-worked textures indicate character and feeling and many other aspects of the human condition. The artist's own words best sum up his continued fascination with and explorations of the human form: 'My work has carried me closer to people - in a kind of circle. My sculpture seems to have that function for me. If it does the same for other people that would mean a great deal to me.' John Davies lived and worked in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, in the mid 1990s, but is now based in London.
