Lara Davies
Lara’s paintings are a direct response to the environment she inhabits. Her paintings act as photograms, absorbing the life around her, be it the communal existence of her shared house in London, or the wilderness of the Highlands when she is bike-packing.
Paint is applied in thin layers to create a mottled surface, like a faded photograph or grainy reel of film. The soft, powdery surface evokes a sense of nostalgia and is an attempt to hold on to the memory of a place, preserving a moment that otherwise eludes capture.
Lara’s paintings often contain stage-like spaces or vignettes within the larger canvas, a focal-point where light dances on wallpaper or glimmers on the sea, like a postcard or souvenir framed against a sun-bleached backdrop.
Lara Davies was born in 1985 in Maesteg, Wales and lives and works in London. In 2022 Lara completed a Masters in Painting at the Royal College of Art. Lara has exhibited widely, including in the 2018 John Moores Painting Prize at the Walker Museum, Liverpool. Her work is held in both private and public collections, including the Contemporary Art Society of Wales and the AllBright Mayfair Members’ Club.
In 2016 Lara cofounded LLE, an artist-led curatorial project with a focus on contemporary painting. LLE projects include Into A Light (Prints and Originals Gallery, Saatchi Gallery, London) and London Art Fair 2017 and 2018.