Paul Davies is an Australian-born, Los Angeles - based artist whose work is driven by friction between opposing forces of built and natural environments, design and art, abstraction and figuration. These boundaries and relationships are illustrated through his process, which combines painting, stenciling, photography and sculpture.
The neutrality of Modernist architecture is a recurring subject in Davies work. Through a method of repetition and collage these structures and surrounding landscapes obscure the viewers sense of site and space. Davies employs stencils, hand cut and derived from his own digital photographs and then applied in various mediums to challenge the viewer’s relationship with built environments.
Davies’ work has been acquired by and exhibited at the University of California, Irvine, Institute and Museum of California Art, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Palm Springs Art Museum, Crocker Art Museum, MAK Center for Art and Architecture and the Laguna Art Museum. His work has been commissioned by the Soho House in Dumbo New York, Downtown Los Angeles, Barcelona, Mumbai and West Hollywood.
In 2016 he completed a residency at The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture Phoenix and work from this is now in the permanent collection of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery. In 2013, he was awarded a residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Davies was featured with Luc Tuymans and Peter Doig in essay "Limbo Architecture - Painters of Modernism" by Aaron Betsky, Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum (2006 - 2014), for the May 2014 edition of Architecture Review.
Davies has been included in 'Public Trust: It's About What We Do' and 'The Kindness of Strangers: Recent Acquisitions and Conservation Projects' both at the SMOCA, 'Condition Reports' curated by Ranjit Hoskote for India Art Fair, McClelland Collection' at the McClelland gallery + Sculpture Park. His work is held in public and corporate collections such as the Macquarie University, Maitland Regional Gallery, Historic Houses Trust, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Artbank, Rothschild, Kerry Stokes collection, Pat Corrigan collection, and published in Vogue, Blouin Artinfo, Harper’s Bazaar, Los Angeles Times, the Hollywood Reporter, LA Weekly, Art & Australia, W Magazine online, Wallpaper online, Huffington Post and the Australian Financial Review. Davies has a Masters by research at the University of New South Wales - Art and Design, Australia.
EDUCATION
2014 Masters by Research UNSW College of Art & Design
2006 Painting Master Class, National Art School
2000 Bachelor of Fine Arts, UNSW College of Fine Art
2016 Taliesin Artist Residency Program, Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture Phoenix Arizona
2013 Cite des Arts Residency, Paris, Awarded by The Art Gallery of NSW
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 After the Gold Rush Sophie Gannon Gallery Melbourne Art Fair
2017 Installation Fitzpatrick-Leland House MAK Centre for Art and Architecture Los Angeles
Paintings and Photographs Soho House Los Angeles
Everything Loose Will Land in LA Olsen Gallery Sydney
We Tell Ourselves Stories Art District 13 Gallery Delhi
2016 24 Photograms Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture Phoenix
Hollywood Stills Art16 art fair London
Life Stills Sophie Gannon Gallery Melbourne
Southern Exposure Art District 13 Delhi
2015 Devoid of Sensation Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert
Other Desert Spaces Olsen Irwin Gallery Sydney
2014 Pastiche: A lens through which to view the present UNSW College of Art & Design Sydney
Built in Translation The Fine Art Society London
Built in Translation II Art District 13 Gallery, Delhi
Other Desert Spaces The Standard, Hollywood
2013 Switching Utopia Sophie Gannon Gallery Melbourne
Flattening Sublime Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris
2012 Flattening Sublime Olsen Irwin Gallery, Sydney
2011 Pentimento Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
Void The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
Portraits Tim Olsen Gallery at Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne
Portraits Gold Coast City Regional Art Gallery
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 80 @ 80 Palm Springs Art Museum
India Art Fair Art District 13 Gallery curated by Veer Munshi
New Acquisitions Dumbo House New York
2017 Desert Stories Palm Springs Art Museum
Framing Nature McClelland Sculpture Park + Garden
The Kindness of Strangers: Recent Acquisitions and Conservation Projects Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Condition Report India Art Fair Art District 13 Gallery Curated By Ranjit Hoskote
Sydney Contemporary Olsen Gallery, Sophie Gannon Gallery
2016 Public Trust: It’s About What We Do Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Chippendale New World Art Prize Highly Commended judged by Wayne Tunnicliffe – Head of Australian Art at Art Gallery of New South Wales
McClelland Collection McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park
Fair Go Sophie Gannon Gallery Melbourne
2015 Oberoi collection curated by Kapil Chopra Oberoi Hotel, Delhi
Summer Season Heather James Fine Art, Jackson Hole
Winter Season Heather James Fine Art, Curated by Chip Tom, Palm Springs
Works on Paper China Heights Gallery Sydney
Art15 Contemporary Art Fair, Fine Art Society Contemporary London
Palm Springs Art Fair, Heather James Fine Art
Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Sophie Gannon Gallery
2014 Summer Season Heather James Fine Art, Jackson Hole
Winter Season Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert
Melbourne Art Fair, Sophie Gannon Gallery
Art13 London Fine Art Society Contemporary
Signal 8: Salon Show The Cat Street Gallery
Summer exhibition Sophie Gannon Gallery
2013 Natural Selection The Fine Art Society Contemporary
Fleurieu Art Prize Finalist, Australia
Yering Station Art Prize Finalist, Australia
Arnold Bloch Leibler Art Prize Finalist, Australia
Albany Art Prize Finalist, Australia
Reflections The M Collection Exhibition Dianne Tanzer Gallery
Signal 8: Salon Show The Cat Street Gallery
Sydney Contemporary Olsen Irwin Gallery
Signal 8: Salon Show The Cat Street Gallery
Pulse Art Fair, Miami Fine Art Society Contemporary
Wild Australia Yen Reis Gallery Singapore
2012 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize finalist, Australia
Melbourne International Art Fair, Tim Olsen Gallery
Pat Corrigan: Art Collector Maitland Regional Art Gallery
Signal 8: Salon Show The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
Wattle Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2011 Evocatecture Curated by Chip Tom Heather James Fine Art Gallery
NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize finalist, Australia
Heat Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
Self Portraits China Heights Gallery, Sydney - organized by Paul Davies
Art London Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery
Hong Kong International Art Fair, The Cat Street Gallery
Toronto International Art Fair, Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery
A Summer Survey Tim Olsen Gallery
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Palm Springs Art Museum, USA
Crocker Art Museum, USA
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, USA
University of California, Irvine Institute and Museum for California Art USA
Laguna Art Museum USA
Macquarie University, Australia
McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Australia
Bond University, Australia
Artbank, Australia
Maitland Regional Gallery, Australia
Historic Houses Trust, Australia
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Australia
Paul Davies in conversation with Jyotsna Sharma
The Silent Observer
The friction between built architecture and nature serves as a domi
