Biography
Denise was born in the United States. She studied fashion design in New York City and life drawing in London. She became a professional life model in the early 1990s, whilst attending private drawing and painting courses. Denise’s professional painting career began in 1998. She works regularly in her studio, painting, drawing, writing, and dabbling in 3-D. Her greatest inspiration is the painter Francis Bacon. She also enjoys the work of Ewan Uglow, who always made his models suffer; Gustav Klimt, who made his models beautiful; and Edward Hopper, who’s every painting oozed with melancholic atmosphere.
Denise’s work is inspired most often by the human form. Denise says, ‘Drawing inspiration from the human form is my first love regarding painting. I am not interested in the detail of a face or the curve of a hip so much as the skeletal structure that supports any form. I like the rawness of bone and the heaviness that the structure is forced to support. I try to portray the figure in a way that exudes what a life model feels in a pose – pain, numbness, and tiredness. My colours can be dark, but never muddy. I feel the pieces give a sense of the figures emerging from the canvas, inviting contemplation – not just sitting pretty on a rug or chair.’
Denise also enjoys religious history and iconography, and many of her pieces reflect this interest, but not in a traditional or romantic sense. Inspired by the medieval frescos she visited in Romanian churches which displayed the horrors of the crucifixion, purgatory, and hell these figurative works are sinister and sometimes coarse. More recently she has sought inspiration from the flight and movement of birds. This subject matter demands swift, energetic application of the paint and, whilst remaining true to her figurative style, it suggests a return to her fashion illustration experience.
Denise Davis has work in private collections in Britain, Ireland, France, Australia, and America. She has work in corporate collections in Britain and the U.S.A.
