Alice and Celestina

The exhibition consists of paintings and photographs made in the last two years.  Most include an element of portraiture and several are of members and visitors to the Arts Forum who allowed me to photograph them during my last exhibition in January 2008.  I used these to develop a simplified painted portrait style concentrating on the psychological impact of the sitter.  This was in part inspired by Alice Neel, whose work I first became aware in the 1970s, towards the end of her life.

Photography and painting are both elements of my work and most of my paintings use photographic sources.  These are usually my own photographs but also included in the exhibition are paintings based on family snapshots and one from an old school photograph.

Photographic prints are included where the design, detail, colour and subject are strong and merit large scale presentation.

Some of my paintings incorporate text. The companion pieces ‘Above the Clouds’ and ‘Above the Sea’ include words and are in the exhibition.

My website can be found at www.jmvdavies.co.uk and includes some of my older work.  It was last reviewed in 2007 and will be updated again this year.

Judith