Anthony Davies
Interviewed by Lynda Checketts, Director, Norfolk Institute of Art and Design Gallery
LC: How political is your work?
AD: I think it is political in as much as political events affect the day to day living of most people. Three of my print series are 'political' in this sense: Urban Portrait, Les Misérables, and The Wasteland. The general theme is 'post-punk', the alienation of both the young and unqualified, the old and frail, urban decay resulting in homelessness, violence and social upheaval. They covered the Miners' Strike, Greenham Common, and the various racial flash points in the early '80s, Toxteth, St Paul's and Brixton.
AD: I think it is political in as much as political events affect the day to day living of most people. Three of my print series are 'political' in this sense: Urban Portrait, Les Misérables, and The Wasteland. The general theme is 'post-punk', the alienation of both the young and unqualified, the old and frail, urban decay resulting in homelessness, violence and social upheaval. They covered the Miners' Strike, Greenham Common, and the various racial flash points in the early '80s, Toxteth, St Paul's and Brixton.
LC: During the 1980s you spent seven years in Northern Ireland, living in Belfast.
AD: Yes, the move to Northern Ireland was important. I initially went there because of a teaching post at the Belfast Polytechnic, but I was already interested in it as a subject. The death of Bobby Sands, the first IRA hunger striker to die in the Blanket protest, drew my interest to the problems of Northern Ireland. There have been various English artists, notably Richard Hamilton, who have made very broad statements about a situation that they have had little personal contact with. I thought it was a matter of personal integrity to witness at first hand what was actually happening in the province.
AD: Yes, the move to Northern Ireland was important. I initially went there because of a teaching post at the Belfast Polytechnic, but I was already interested in it as a subject. The death of Bobby Sands, the first IRA hunger striker to die in the Blanket protest, drew my interest to the problems of Northern Ireland. There have been various English artists, notably Richard Hamilton, who have made very broad statements about a situation that they have had little personal contact with. I thought it was a matter of personal integrity to witness at first hand what was actually happening in the province.
LC: So it was quite a deliberate decision to go and live in Belfast because of the troubles?
AD: Yes, I moved my print-making studio from South Wales to Belfast. The first series of prints wholly about Northern Ireland was entitled 'No Surrender', a series of stone lithos, etchings and linocuts together with a text by Professor Roy Wallis. Being an outsider and generally unaware if the various myths and legends of 'Old Ireland', I saw the series as almost a documentation of events that I witnessed in the '80s, although the '70s had borne the brunt of the extreme divisions between the two communities, Catholic and Protestant.
AD: Yes, I moved my print-making studio from South Wales to Belfast. The first series of prints wholly about Northern Ireland was entitled 'No Surrender', a series of stone lithos, etchings and linocuts together with a text by Professor Roy Wallis. Being an outsider and generally unaware if the various myths and legends of 'Old Ireland', I saw the series as almost a documentation of events that I witnessed in the '80s, although the '70s had borne the brunt of the extreme divisions between the two communities, Catholic and Protestant.
LC: There is a radical tradition in British art, one traces the roots of this tradition back to the Victorian artists who worked for the Graphic Magazine, and who Van Gogh admired when he lived in England, and to 18th century caricatures.
AD: Van Gogh is important, but I tend to go back to German artists. As a student at Winchester, I had one or two teachers from Scotland, Bill Crozier and John Bellany, and they opened my eyes to Beckman, Grosz, Dix, Ensor and people like that. Who teaches you is very important.
AD: Van Gogh is important, but I tend to go back to German artists. As a student at Winchester, I had one or two teachers from Scotland, Bill Crozier and John Bellany, and they opened my eyes to Beckman, Grosz, Dix, Ensor and people like that. Who teaches you is very important.
LC: Was Bellany a good teacher?
AD: One had the idea that being an artist was quite glorious, it was romantic and had to do with drinking and having a good time, but it was also about producing work. Teaching was a bit of a holiday and then they went back to London to their studios to work. Being an artist takes a phenomenal amount of self discipline. The art schools have changed in the 80s and 90s. The days of bravado have gone.
AD: One had the idea that being an artist was quite glorious, it was romantic and had to do with drinking and having a good time, but it was also about producing work. Teaching was a bit of a holiday and then they went back to London to their studios to work. Being an artist takes a phenomenal amount of self discipline. The art schools have changed in the 80s and 90s. The days of bravado have gone.
LC: Do you see yourself working in a documentary tradition?
AD: I think labelling is dangerous. I regard myself as a humanist, but dealing with imagery in a bold and direct way however unpleasant the situation. Recently I've been looking at American artists such as Ben Shahn, Philip Evergood, Jack Levine, Romare Bearden, Leon Golub, Kienholz and Alice Neel who have been interested in the human situation.
AD: I think labelling is dangerous. I regard myself as a humanist, but dealing with imagery in a bold and direct way however unpleasant the situation. Recently I've been looking at American artists such as Ben Shahn, Philip Evergood, Jack Levine, Romare Bearden, Leon Golub, Kienholz and Alice Neel who have been interested in the human situation.
LC: What about the relationship between your work and photography?
AD: I have always got a great deal of inspiration from photographers - Robert Capa, David Douglas Duncan, Leonard Freed, Philip Jones Griffiths, and Donald McCullin. I like the immediacy, and in some cases the intimacy, the photographer has with the subject matter. I admire the person with the camera who can go into a situation, however perilous, and obtain an image - a moment in history. I have always been interested in artists using technology - video, film, and photography - using different media to make a statement. I sometimes feel artists are in danger of obscurity. It easily becomes an elitist self indulgent activity, but I still believe in the skill of drawing, the power of the 2B pencil, the drypoint on a copper plate, the litho crayon and the linocut tool. The manipulation of my own line and imagery.
AD: I have always got a great deal of inspiration from photographers - Robert Capa, David Douglas Duncan, Leonard Freed, Philip Jones Griffiths, and Donald McCullin. I like the immediacy, and in some cases the intimacy, the photographer has with the subject matter. I admire the person with the camera who can go into a situation, however perilous, and obtain an image - a moment in history. I have always been interested in artists using technology - video, film, and photography - using different media to make a statement. I sometimes feel artists are in danger of obscurity. It easily becomes an elitist self indulgent activity, but I still believe in the skill of drawing, the power of the 2B pencil, the drypoint on a copper plate, the litho crayon and the linocut tool. The manipulation of my own line and imagery.
LC: Are you interested in traditional draftsmanship? Was your training as a traditional draftsman?
AD: Yes very much so. It was working from life and still life studies. A great emphasis on drawing and above all observation, being taught how to look and draw. My formative years were about relating to events outside the art school, I was interested in Pop Art in the 50s, and the cultural identity of my generation. I have always had a fascination with the British fashion scene. I have always wanted to make pictures involving topical events. Too many of my contemporaries have a purist regard for the great 19th century masters - Matisse, Monet, Cezanne etc. They relate to another time, another place. Perhaps the American Pop era somehow did away with elitism and preciousness. My problem as an artist has been how to translate this into authentic British form.
AD: Yes very much so. It was working from life and still life studies. A great emphasis on drawing and above all observation, being taught how to look and draw. My formative years were about relating to events outside the art school, I was interested in Pop Art in the 50s, and the cultural identity of my generation. I have always had a fascination with the British fashion scene. I have always wanted to make pictures involving topical events. Too many of my contemporaries have a purist regard for the great 19th century masters - Matisse, Monet, Cezanne etc. They relate to another time, another place. Perhaps the American Pop era somehow did away with elitism and preciousness. My problem as an artist has been how to translate this into authentic British form.
LC: Your interest in Pop Art connects with another element in your visual language, apart form drawing and photography, you use popular forms of representation, ways of depicting what you find in the media...
AD: I want the public to respond to my work. When I have an exhibition, I don't worry whether they like or dislike it, but I do want them to come and see it, not just ignore it. I am currently working on a large pen and ink drawing for an exhibition at the Orchard Gallery, Derry, where I am trying to incorporate figures and scenes relevant to a city divided by religious conflict. I am using a child's excursion to a toy shop, inhabited by the congenial world of Disney with loveable cartoon characters - Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, in stark contrast to the other traditional toys that relate to the harsh realities of the city outside. The ever present surveillance of helicopters, patrolling soldiers and tanks, armed police ready to do battle if necessary. The improbably figure of King Billy on a rocking rabbit!
AD: I want the public to respond to my work. When I have an exhibition, I don't worry whether they like or dislike it, but I do want them to come and see it, not just ignore it. I am currently working on a large pen and ink drawing for an exhibition at the Orchard Gallery, Derry, where I am trying to incorporate figures and scenes relevant to a city divided by religious conflict. I am using a child's excursion to a toy shop, inhabited by the congenial world of Disney with loveable cartoon characters - Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, in stark contrast to the other traditional toys that relate to the harsh realities of the city outside. The ever present surveillance of helicopters, patrolling soldiers and tanks, armed police ready to do battle if necessary. The improbably figure of King Billy on a rocking rabbit!
LC: You presumably made the decision at some point to always, or nearly always, work through print-making. Was it an attraction to the media and process, or simply graphic forms which attracted you? Or do you like the idea of prints' democratic potential?
AD: I have always been in love with the idea of print-making, probably more so now than when I was at college and limited to just black and white etchings. Since then, I have taught myself stone lithography and done various series using Lino and wood. Having my own print workshop has obviously made it a lot easier for me to produce a lot of work over the years. I love the solitude and the mark making that goes with print-making.
AD: I have always been in love with the idea of print-making, probably more so now than when I was at college and limited to just black and white etchings. Since then, I have taught myself stone lithography and done various series using Lino and wood. Having my own print workshop has obviously made it a lot easier for me to produce a lot of work over the years. I love the solitude and the mark making that goes with print-making.
LC: So you have periods of intellectual activity with the idea and subject interspersed with periods of print production?
AD: Yes, I regard myself as being an intuitive artist. The intellectual part of my work is contained in the specific idea I have of a series and the way I am going to approach it. If the initial idea is not direct enough the print won't be successful. I have always worked in series, probably an idea I got from looking at early Hockney's. It also keeps me entertained, the idea of working in one medium, then changing to another. I like the idea of doing the rather small domestic size series of etchings like Peter Grimes, and then doing the larger series of woodcuts like A Tale of Two Cities.
AD: Yes, I regard myself as being an intuitive artist. The intellectual part of my work is contained in the specific idea I have of a series and the way I am going to approach it. If the initial idea is not direct enough the print won't be successful. I have always worked in series, probably an idea I got from looking at early Hockney's. It also keeps me entertained, the idea of working in one medium, then changing to another. I like the idea of doing the rather small domestic size series of etchings like Peter Grimes, and then doing the larger series of woodcuts like A Tale of Two Cities.
LC: The tradition of political art continued in the '80s through the artists we associate with the old GLC Arts Policy, working with women, ethnic groups and people with disabilities. Does your work come out of the same social climate?
AD: I have never regarded myself as being part of a group or movement. One of the reasons for going to art school was to discover some individual form of expression, which would enable me to pursue a career as a professional artist. In terms of English art, I have always admired artists like Stanley Spencer and Edward Burra. Artists who I regard as having a singular vision and with leading quite a solitary existence. I am searching for a spiritual involvement with humanity, its problems and its joys which hopefully will continue all my life.
I think what is most important above everything else is to continue working. To achieve this, you need to allow yourself a great deal of space and time. Consistency in the work is a key factor. Integrity is very important, the same integrity you had when you first entered art school.
AD: I have never regarded myself as being part of a group or movement. One of the reasons for going to art school was to discover some individual form of expression, which would enable me to pursue a career as a professional artist. In terms of English art, I have always admired artists like Stanley Spencer and Edward Burra. Artists who I regard as having a singular vision and with leading quite a solitary existence. I am searching for a spiritual involvement with humanity, its problems and its joys which hopefully will continue all my life.
I think what is most important above everything else is to continue working. To achieve this, you need to allow yourself a great deal of space and time. Consistency in the work is a key factor. Integrity is very important, the same integrity you had when you first entered art school.
