Jack Davis B. 1990

Works Biography

Biography

Jack Davis
B. 1990

“To be true to yourself as a Cornish landscape painter, you have to paint Cornwall in all her moods and seasons. I want the viewer to find ambiguity in the work, not just a figurative representation. For me the process of painting is a meditation holds you in the present moment. There is a constant struggle between what I want to do and what the materials want to do. Sometimes you have to step back and let the paint be paint.”

Transformative, emotive and dramatic, Jack's paintings present celestial skyscapes, diffuse landscapes and stunning seascapes, or sometimes exist as pure abstractions of land, sea and sky. The power and majesty of nature is represented gesturally and through the deep contrasts of palette, texture and shade.  Drawing inspiration from Turner, Jack's paintings are often explorations of light; light on the sea, light on the horizon, light through the clouds, light reflected from the sand.

Jack graduated from Falmouth University in 2012 and has been painting professionally ever since. He lives and works near St. Just, painting the rugged West Penwith landscape between Sennen Cove and St. Ives.

Jack recently became a member of the St. Ives Society of Artists, has been a tutor at the renowned Newlyn School of Art since 2016, and the Aesthetica Art Prize named him as one of the Future Now 100 contemporary artists

“The West Penwith peninsula is at the end of the line, remote, rugged, and embodied with an ancient primal majesty. Living in such an impressionable environment evokes plenty of inspiration on a daily basis: I am drawn to the raw power of the natural environment and the sublime effect of light. I harness the impulsive energy of my subject matter and create order out of chaos like the landscape I inhabit.”

 

Selected exhibitions with Livingstone St. Ives

Cornish Light, 2023
Wild Seas & Winter Skies, 2022
Elemental, 2022
The Zennor Series, 2022
New Horizons, 2021