Peter Davis is a social realist painter.
Zeitgeist, which means ‘spirit of the age’, is the name of his ongoing series of paintings that looks at our relationship with our tech. Personal technology is blurring our physical and digital worlds and making us fundamentally rethink what it means to be human.
His compositions focus on someone absorbed in their personal technology - whilst their bodies are physically present their minds are elsewhere. They hold a mirror up to what we have become and give us clues to what might lie ahead.
Peter strives for his paintings to feel technically beautiful. There is an intentional dichotomy between his technology-centric images and the traditional painting process. Through the materiality of the canvas’s surface and fine mark making, his artwork inherently points back to him as their author. A real brushstroke, unlike a virtual one, gives a visceral response that can’t be achieved with digital mediums, and, as there is no physical connection to the digital narratives, it allows for a more authentic discourse.
Peter started this body of work in 2015 to reflect our increasingly addictive relationship with the tech that now dominates our lives. Seeing people connected to their devices 24/7 is so common that we don’t give it a second thought anymore. As the American writer, Henry Miller, puts it “What the painter sees he is duty-bound to share. Usually, he makes us see and feel what ordinarily we ignore or are immune to.”
Peter Davis is a member of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters, an elected council member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts (MAFA) and has won numerous professional painting prizes. In 2017 and 2019 he was shortlisted by Artists & Illustrators magazine for Artist of the Year.
Zeitgeist, which means ‘spirit of the age’, is the name of his ongoing series of paintings that looks at our relationship with our tech. Personal technology is blurring our physical and digital worlds and making us fundamentally rethink what it means to be human.
His compositions focus on someone absorbed in their personal technology - whilst their bodies are physically present their minds are elsewhere. They hold a mirror up to what we have become and give us clues to what might lie ahead.
Peter strives for his paintings to feel technically beautiful. There is an intentional dichotomy between his technology-centric images and the traditional painting process. Through the materiality of the canvas’s surface and fine mark making, his artwork inherently points back to him as their author. A real brushstroke, unlike a virtual one, gives a visceral response that can’t be achieved with digital mediums, and, as there is no physical connection to the digital narratives, it allows for a more authentic discourse.
Peter started this body of work in 2015 to reflect our increasingly addictive relationship with the tech that now dominates our lives. Seeing people connected to their devices 24/7 is so common that we don’t give it a second thought anymore. As the American writer, Henry Miller, puts it “What the painter sees he is duty-bound to share. Usually, he makes us see and feel what ordinarily we ignore or are immune to.”
Peter Davis is a member of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters, an elected council member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts (MAFA) and has won numerous professional painting prizes. In 2017 and 2019 he was shortlisted by Artists & Illustrators magazine for Artist of the Year.
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Selected Exhibitions & Awards
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 Zeitgeist - Warrington Museum & Art Gallery
2017 Contemporary Portraiture - The Space at Cass Art, Manchester
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 Perceptions - Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP) - The Space at Cass Art, London
2020 Virtually Real - Norman Rea Gallery, York
2019 Warrington Contemporary - Warrington Museum & Art Gallery
2019 MAFA Autumn Exhibition - Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery
2019 Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA) ‘Portrait Prize’ Exhibition - RBSA Gallery, Birmingham
2019 Spotlight - Saul Hay Gallery, Manchester
2019 PS Mirabel Painting Prize - PS Mirabel gallery, Manchester
2019 Greater Manchester Arts Prize - Bolton Museum & Art Gallery
2019 Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA) ‘Prize’ Exhibition – RBSA Gallery, Birmingham
2019 Artists &Illustrators Magazine 'Artists of the Year' – Mall Galleries, London
2018 ING Discerning Eye - Mall Galleries, London
2018 Being allowed to look - Saul Hay Gallery, Manchester
2018 Aesthetica Art Prize - York Art Gallery
2018 GM Arts Prize - Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery
2018 RBSA Prize Exhibition - RBSA Gallery, Birmingham
2017 Warrington Contemporary - Warrington Museum & Art Gallery
2017 Artists &Illustrators Magazine 'Artists of the Year’ – Mall Galleries, London
2016 Warrington Contemporary -Warrington Museum & Art Gallery
AWARDS
2019 Finalist - Artists &Illustrators Magazine 'Artists of the Year'
2018 Shortlisted - Aesthetica Art Prize
2018 Runner Up Prize - Greater Manchester Arts Prize
2018 Third Prize - Royal Birmingham Society of Artists ‘Prize Exhibition’
2017 People's Choice Prize - Warrington Contemporary
2017 Finalist - Artists &Illustrators Magazine 'Artists of the Year'
2016 Runner Up Prize - Warrington Contemporary
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 Zeitgeist - Warrington Museum & Art Gallery
2017 Contemporary Portraiture - The Space at Cass Art, Manchester
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 Perceptions - Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP) - The Space at Cass Art, London
2020 Virtually Real - Norman Rea Gallery, York
2019 Warrington Contemporary - Warrington Museum & Art Gallery
2019 MAFA Autumn Exhibition - Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery
2019 Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA) ‘Portrait Prize’ Exhibition - RBSA Gallery, Birmingham
2019 Spotlight - Saul Hay Gallery, Manchester
2019 PS Mirabel Painting Prize - PS Mirabel gallery, Manchester
2019 Greater Manchester Arts Prize - Bolton Museum & Art Gallery
2019 Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA) ‘Prize’ Exhibition – RBSA Gallery, Birmingham
2019 Artists &Illustrators Magazine 'Artists of the Year' – Mall Galleries, London
2018 ING Discerning Eye - Mall Galleries, London
2018 Being allowed to look - Saul Hay Gallery, Manchester
2018 Aesthetica Art Prize - York Art Gallery
2018 GM Arts Prize - Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery
2018 RBSA Prize Exhibition - RBSA Gallery, Birmingham
2017 Warrington Contemporary - Warrington Museum & Art Gallery
2017 Artists &Illustrators Magazine 'Artists of the Year’ – Mall Galleries, London
2016 Warrington Contemporary -
AWARDS
2019 Finalist - Artists &Illustrators Magazine 'Artists of the Year'
2018 Shortlisted - Aesthetica Art Prize
2018 Runner Up Prize - Greater Manchester Arts Prize
2018 Third Prize - Royal Birmingham Society of Artists ‘Prize Exhibition’
2017 People's Choice Prize - Warrington Contemporary
2017 Finalist - Artists &Illustrators Magazine 'Artists of the Year'
2016 Runner Up Prize - Warrington Contemporary
