Artist Statement - Claire Davies June 2005

A formalist approach is how I embrace the work I make. It is a formalist observation that “a painting […] must live by the strength of the paint alone, must rely on the means which are proper to it, without the aid of melodrama or anecdote”* My pieces are not subject driven but arrangements of visual elements secured by aesthetic judgement; investigations of space, light and detail. My objective is for the viewer to be moved by my work through its content and through its form. The pieces I make are autonomous, self-sufficient in their beauty, allowing room for the viewer to breathe, without encouraging any deep political or conceptual analysis. As the spectator consumes the form they are invited to bring as little or as much of themselves to the work as they choose, broadening their own analogies, finding room for contemplation. Matisse considered his work in a similar vein when he likened it to “a good armchair.”**