Works of the Nineties

As one of the post-war artists Alan Davie inherited surrealism and the search to create an immediate vivid work of art that was free from the constraint of self-consciousness and conclusive imagery. To Davie, painting and drawing is like blinking and breathing, they are constant rituals in his life that happen without recognition. His paintings are developed from many automatic drawings and gouaches that happen intuitively. Davie works in a seasonal rhythmic way spending six months making informal sketches on paper and the following six months producing paintings in oils. In a migratory fashion one period is spent in England the other abroad. Davie invents and adopts symbols and art objects from diverse cultures, such as Egyptian, pre-Columbian, American Indian, African, Polynesian and Australian Aboriginal. The inclusion of primitive imagery, designs of alchemy, and religious tradition gives the works spiritual intensity. Abstract-decorative characteristics of Celtic Art also emerge, as do unconscious private totems and personal mythologies. For Davie, "The Book of Kells" provides another constant source of inspiration, as does the philosophy of Zen and an interest in child art.