2000AD And Fine Artist Simon Davis Talks New Portrait Exhibition ‘I Am Because You Are’

Capturing The Essence Of A Subject

Artist Simon Davis is best known in the world of comics as artist for 2000AD on series like Slaine and Thistlebone. But for many years he has also pursued a parallel career as a painter with his work being shortlisted in prestigious places like London’s National Portrait Gallery as part of their BP Portrait Award. This May, he has a solo exhibition of his work, ‘I Am Because You Are’  at London’s Panter And Hall Gallery. Davis just spoke to Tripwire’s editor-in-chief Joel Meadows about this new exhibition which starts in May…

TRIPWIRE: What was the genesis of this exhibition ?

SIMON DAVIS: About four years ago, I did a small portrait of my father as he was getting frail and I wanted to paint him while I still could. He was a painter too so it occurred to me to do a series of portraits of other creatives who have been influential to me throughout my life. This would involve me meeting the artists and telling them what they have meant to me, photograph them and then paint the portraits  back in my studio.

TW: As your first ever solo show, are you nervous about its reaction?

SD: It’s my first ever solo show but I have exhibited a lot over the years. I suppose I am nervous as it’s a very specific show, rather than an eclectic one but I think it’s an interesting premise so hopefully others will too.

TW: Once you knew this was going to be an exhibition with a theme, how much did that alter your approach to each portrait?

SD: I made a list of art that I’d been influenced by since I was a kid..book illustrators, comic artists, painters etc and then went about contacting them. All the portraits were to be 10” x 8” as I didn’t want any portrait to be more dominant the others. This was to represent the eclectic nature of taking inspiration and guidance from many sources rather than just one.

TW: You still have your feet in two different camps as an artist: your traditional painting and your work for 2000AD. Does this make you feel like a slightly schizophrenic artist or do you enjoy the fact that these two different kinds of work exercise different parts of your brain as an artist?

SD: I used to keep both separate but as the years have gone by, the two have become easier bedfellows. They do, to an extent, inform each other..the compositional demands of comic panels certainly does influence my painting and the straight painting has encouraged me to paint my comic covers in oils these days.

TW: This exhibition includes portraits of people who have had an influence on you as an artist. How hard was it to whittle this down to just 30 entries?

SD: It was quite hard as I have had lots of influences that were almost unconscious. Also a lot of the older artists had sadly died. Sergio Toppi, Arnaldo Putzu and Albert Uderzo were hugely influential, particularly Putzu as I was an avid reader of Look-In in the 70’s and his weekly covers were thrilling. Growing up in the 70’s was a golden age for illustration, be it Brooke Bond Tea Cards, Look and Learn magazine and the back of cereal packets. I eventually whittled it down to 30 as that feels like a nice pleasing number.

TW: How important was it to include a range of people from different disciplines and different industries in the final list?

SD: It wasn’t necessarily something I really had to put effort into as it was simply a reflection of the work that I was most interested through various stages in my life eg. when I was young , went to art college and when I started working professionally.

By its very nature, my influences and inspirations were taken from everywhere.

TW: How did you line up Panter and Hall as the space for the exhibition?

SD: I’ve been showing my paintings with them for a while now but we discussed a solo show and I said that I had one pretty much done. They were interested in it because it was unusual and an interesting way of painting a self-portrait, which in a way, it is.

TW: What for you makes a perfect portrait painting?

SD: There are varying answers to that question depending on who I am painting. These in ‘I Am Because You Are’ are very straightforward..direct and with eye-contact…this again is to represent their direct feed into my creative mind. A commissioned portrait is finding the balance between a good painting and a portrait and likeness that the client likes. Painting for myself is more private and personal so achieving likeness is not the priority. For me, I think a perfect portrait is one that is honest, truthful and has a simplicity to it.…that’s what my portraiture aspires to.

I Am Because You Are runs from 11-20 May at Panter and Hall. Find out more online here

https://www.panterandhall.com/pages/simon-davis-coming-soon