Rosalind Davis Transformation, Surface, Material , Process, Research, Experiment‌.. www.RosalindDavis.co.uk Co-Founder of ZeitgeistArtsProjects.com
Follow me on twitter@rosalinddavis & @ZeitgeistAP
2012/13 Works Halfway Through the Dark Series
Diptych. I Will Wait for You. 2012. Oil& Embroidery on canvas, 60x 35cm.
These quiet, blue works form a series of personal relics – “a kind of commemoration (the stitch being about reparation)”. There’s a note of the elegiac here – a contemplative sadness for a past and absent moment of violence – but also hope, beauty and a sensitivity to the individual (story/event/rioter/shop -owner). Tom Jeffreys, Wild Culture.
Reeves Corner 2012.Oil&embroidery on linen. 100x100cm S
Butterfingers. 2012. Oil and embroidery on linen, 70X70cm,
Splinters. 2012. Oil and embroidery on linen, 60X60cm,
Alias. 2012. Oil, poly-acetate and embroidery on linen, 60X60cm.
Ghost. 2012.30x60cms Oil and embroidery on linen.
Crack, 2012.60x60cm Oil and embroidery on linen.
Unfold‌Embrace Series. Bound. Pen, tippex and embroidery on found photographs. 24x18cms
Unfold Embrace Series. Pen, tippex and embroidery on found photograph. 9x12cms
Bound For, (Triptych) Oil and Embroidery on photographs, 42x15cms, framed
Unfold Embrace Series. Embroidery & drawing on acetate . 15x25cms
Enshrine. 2012. Oil and Embroidery on linen. 20x30cm
Bound 2012.60x60cm Oil and embroidery on linen.
Echo. 25x30cms. Oil and embroidery on linen.
Resonate. 60x60cm, Oil and embroidery on linen. 2013
Re-versed. Oil and embroidery on linen. 60 x 60cm. 2013.
An Endless Conversation. Pen, tippex and embroidery on found photograph. 9x12cms
The Weighting Room Pen, tippex and embroidery on found photograph. 9x12cms & 60x90cm edition
Asunder. 100x120cms. Oil and embroidery on linen.
Reflect. 25x30cms. Oil and embroidery on linen.
Luna Park. 2013.90x120cms Oil and embroidery on linen.
Embrace, Oil and embroidery on canvas. 60x60cm
Mirror. 2013.90x120cms Oil and embroidery on linen.
Building Potential. Oil and embroidery on cotton duck. 60x60cm
Counter Structure. Oil on embroidery on cotton duck 30x30cm
Unveil. Oil on embroidery on cotton duck 30x30cm
The Observation Room. Oil,vinyl adhesive and embroidery on cotton duck. 100x100cm
Distance To. Oil,vinyl adhesive and embroidery on cotton duck. 90x120cm
The Distance Between. Oil,vinyl adhesive and embroidery on cotton duck. 90x120cm
Suspend. Oil,vinyl adhesive and embroidery on cotton duck. 90x120cm
Studio Shots.
“Rosalind Davis reveals herself to be a visionary artist of sensitivity and complexity” Andrew Bryant. Artists Statement Rosalind Davis is an artist interested in transformation, material and surface. Her works explores physical and psychological space largely using paint and embroidery but also working in installation and photography. Her work explores the power, presence& socio-politics of architecture and landscape with particular reference to Modernism. These 1950’s buildings and their exterior and interior spaces are examined in a documentation, exploration and questioning of the ideals of utopia and dystopia, of social housing as well as manmade and natural disasters such as the riots of 2011 in the UK. Davis’ most recent works are reconfigured architectural interventions that depict unfolding and complex possibilities of space. Through the use of structures and their manipulated deconstruction, suggested and physicalised form Davis explores boundaries between interior and exterior spaces which contain within their surfaces of oil, vinyl adhesive and embroidery contrasts of tension, serenity, fragility and stability. ‘ The environments she represents are but support structures, as the artist envisions the identities and the human experiences that animate the edifices; their spatial compression and otherwordliness, their conceptual meshing of the social disused or run-down buildings are mended and/or supported through stitching, as well as being somewhat transformed when their painted surfaces melt into, soak and stain the backdrop.’ Becky Hunter Meticulous stitches and brushstrokes seek to transform, commemorate and repair not only failings and disaster but to intervene into spaces and create new possibilities and potentiality. The use of embroidery in her work, emphasizes the fragility of the spaces and the humanity within these spaces as well conjoining both masculinity (painting) and feminine mediums (embroidery) and their coexistance. As a woman exploring modernism the needle and thread which are inherent in the works is also about piercing and puncturing historical stereotypes about the undermined roles of women in the cultural landscape of both art, art history and architecture. “ Rosalind creates a tension between embellishment (embroidery) and depiction (painting), sensuality and awkwardness. The nature of embroidery dictates that the surface of her paintings becomes heightened by the physicality of the stitching modifying the decorative aspects and tradition of embroidery from its original purpose. ” Graham Crowley
Rosalind Davis Biog www.RosalindDavis.co.uk •
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Rosalind Davis is a graduate from the Royal College of Art and Chelsea College of Art. She has exhibited nationally and internationally and has work in private and public collections. Her work is currently on display in the exhibition Material Matters at Courtauld Institute until July 2013 and she has a forthcoming solo show at Bruce Castle Museum in Tottenham, London. Davis is also a curator, award-winning blogger, writer, lecturer and creative consultant. Davis lectures for a number of organisations including the Royal College of Art, University of the Arts, ArtQuest, University of Westminster and Nottingham. She recently contributed to BBC4’s Film ‘Tales of Winter. The Art of Snow and Ice’ directed by Spike Geillinger. As a writer she has contributed to The Guardian, a-n News and Magazine, Artlicks and Jotta. She has also led art tours for South London Art Map and the Whitechapel Gallery. Her creative consultancy work has included arts education, press and PR, crowdfunding and architectural planning. From 2009-11 Davis co-founded and curated Core Gallery a dynamic artist-led gallery space working in collaboration with over 200 artists and curators. She is also a mentor at Shape Arts, the largest deaf and disabled arts organisation in the UK. In 2012 Rosalind Davis & Annabel Tilley founded Zeitgeist Arts Projects to support ambitious artists with practical ways to sustain their practice. The DIY Educate artists' professional practice programme Show & Tell and their innovative touring participatory talk: The A-Z of Surviving as an Artist are designed to encourage artists to learn from other artists, network, engage, thrive and raise their profile. "ZAP IS RUN AND CURATED BY THE ESTIMABLE ROSALIND DAVIS AND ANNABEL TILLEY, WITH A HUGE AMOUNT OF DISCERNMENT, ENERGY AND GUSTO." Andrew Bracey