Statement by Philip David

I have always doodled “people” on scraps of paper but a “pram in the hallway” kept me away from pursuing my passion for art until 2014 when I made a decision to leave my job to become an artist full-time. Since then, I have concentrated on portraits and experimented with ways of portraying people’s lives, their character and personality. I have an extensive studio to which I commence each day at around 9 am within that studio and proceed to plan, prepare or commit work ongoing until around 5 pm.

My influences are many, as I am a passionate viewer of art documentaries and YouTube documentary links, amongst artists as broad as post-modernism, installation, expressionist and many other styles. These all influence my creativity. I am constantly thinking of, and planning series on a theme and in recent years I have created a homage to 80 living artists that I admire forming a solid grid, 2m high x 4.8m wide. Recently, I have finished a series of the eyes of the women who influenced Picasso’s art – 15 panels in all, measuring 1.5m high x 2m wide. I have just finished a series of 100 4x4 inch panels of my homage to works by Picasso’s blue period, Degar’s ballet series, Modigliani’s nudes and portraits and many expressionist painters. On reflection I have been painting series on a theme for many, many years and continue to enjoy the exploration of a single theme until its completion.

My portraits are colourful, vibrant, gritty, no frills and sometimes a non-pretty rendition of the human form and I am enjoying his artistic journey thus far. I don’t believe that a painting should be a reproduction of the splendid world that is at everybody’s fingertips that can be captured easily by photography with all its enhancements and ability to morph the image.

I go through stages of Realism, Expressionism and Abstraction. I love to paint in oils and often use mixed media. I feel that a painting should make you (the viewer) think & feel an emotional response instead of just decorating a wall space.

I am a Fellow of the Royal South Australian Society of Arts and I have achieved many awards and have been a finalist in many Art Prizes – refer to my CV. I have also been invited to judge the Royal Show Art Prize and various other SA art prizes. I have also been invited to undertake a series of  workshops over the last 5 years with the Burnside Art Society. In 2022 I received a commission from a large SA Corporation to do a series of 27 large portraits for a Hall of Fame that they are creating.

To view more of my work, please visit my website www.philipdavidart.com.au or my most current work on my Instagram page.