DESIGN DAD: Artist: Paul Davies

Australian artist Paul Davies caught my attention about a year ago, because I have a good friend, and fellow Intern Architect, who shares his name. My immediate thought was "Wow, Paul, you've been holding out on me", but then quickly realized my friend is not Australian.

Paul Davies work appeals to me on several layers. First, it almost always shows a of modern architecture and nature - nice. Second it's a throw back to pop art color schemes, usually bold, bright, and highly contrasted - nice. Third, he uses interesting techniques to produce these non-existent scenes - nice. The process of his work often begins through photography. He'll take pictures of a famous modern house, which is often difficult in it's own right as many of the properties he shows are privately owned famous houses - some designed by the architect Harry Seidler, then collages them with landscape photographs by Ansel Adams. After the scene is created, he paints them using multiple methods including brushes and stencils. His current works focus on creating truly isolated spaces, devoid of human form, often incorporating empty swimming pools to help dislocate the viewer from the space.