About the Artists
Bryan Davies and Laura Davies met whilst studying sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art between 1996 and 2000. In 2003 they established a studio in Leeds in a corporate property development with business sponsorship. From this shop-front space they made art projects for the audience living and working in the development, part of a new 'urban village'. Positioning themselves outside of the mainstream gallery system they focussed on developing methods of relating their art to the specifics of the city of Leeds, which included inviting in business professionals to discuss sculptures made for offices, or hosting fashion-themed photo-shoot evenings. This was an important experimental period that provided the basis for their current work, which both reflects on and embraces everyday contemporary life: the architecture of cities, the ways we live, our ideas of the future and progress - often framed by moments from twentieth century art and design history for comparison and measure.
Bryan and Laura Davies continue to work from Leeds. In 2007 their first major public commission 'Hello Friends' was installed in this city at Bridgewater Place - a 17.5m high sculpture with illuminated narrative image panels. In recent years their work has been exhibited in the Liverpool Biennial, UK (2006); Venice Biennial, Italy (2005); Gwangju Biennial, Korea (2002), and Modern Art Oxford, UK (2002). Between 2005-2007 they worked with Grizedale Arts, Cumbria creating an interior for the parlour of Low Parkamoor, a remote farmhouse owned by the National Trust on the hills above Lake Coniston. In 2002 Bryan Davies attended the 'Unidee' residency at the Pistoletto Foundation in Biella, Italy. This was the start of many exchanges between Leeds and Italy including the exhibition 'Negotiating Us, Here and Now' (2006) by Michelangelo Pistoletto and international artists, organised with Leeds City Art Gallery.
"Bryan and Laura Davies' work revisits the once mainstream belief that it is the optimistic people that can transform the world around them for the better. This statement is in fact the challenge in their work, the challenge to contemporary society's stereotype of the outsider as innovator, that the romantic hero needs darkness for credibility, a cynical vision and a critical eye... Theirs is a meticulously conceived interpretation of the world around us that has a positive belief in the future and a definite joyfulness in being alive."
Adam Sutherland and Alistair Hudson
Your passport to the North
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