John Davis was born in Ballarat in 1936 and completed an Associate Diploma of Sculpture at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1966, and from 1967 to 1971 taught Sculpture and 3-D Design at Caulfield Institute of Technology. In 1972 Davis travelled in Europe and America before returning to Australia the following year to take up the position of Lecturer in Sculpture at Prahran College of Advanced Education.

In subsequent years Davis was a senior faculty member at the Victorian College of the Arts and continued to travel widely and exhibit regularly in the United States, Japan and Australia. His work is represented in many public and private collections both within Australia and abroad.

Davis work was inspired by the Australian landscape, particularly the Mallee country, the Hattah Lakes area and the Murray River. One of his most influential works, entitled Tree Piece, was made by encasing the trunks of several growing trees on the banks of the Murray River with papier mache, mud, latex, coiled string, plastic cling wrap, and twigs bound together. The temporary work was then allowed to weather and rot away.

Davis initially worked in wood and later in fibreglass and aluminium, becoming known for his distinctive formalist style. By 1973, Davis had become increasingly interested in conceptual land/environmental art practices, often creating installations in situ. Influenced by the Arte Povera movement and rejecting then fashionable metal sculpture, Davis worked with delicate materials, modelling eucalyptus twigs, string, paper, calico and bitumous paint:

He faced the world with simple materials, twigs, calico, bitumen, glue, needle and thread. He foraged for twigs and made an empire from their fragile joints for his exquisitely constructed sculptures. In the early days he was called the twig-man, and he remained true to twigs until the end.
(source: John Davis, Author & Artist: Ms Heather Ellyard, obituary, Artlink Vol 19, no.4 1999)

Drawing on inspiration from the Murray River, recurring motifs in his work include rivers and fish, evident in his ‘Murray cod’ series. From the mid 1980s, Davis used fish in his work as a symbol for human movement and relationships with each other and the environment. Davis commonly referred to his fish as ‘nomads’ or ‘travellers’ and once described his works as ‘a metaphor for people and the way we move around the world; a statement for diversity’. (source: http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/ )
Davis was also influenced by Aboriginal artifacts, inspiring his assembalges of natural found materials.

Davis's ongoing concern for landscape resulted in numerous site-specific installation works in Australia, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Britain, the United States, Japan and New Zealand. Significant commissions include an installation in the Australian Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Davis was awarded a number of prizes, the most important being his winning entry in the 1970 Comalco Invitation Award for sculpture in aluminium. He participated in the inaugural Mildura Sculpture Triennial, and he represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 1978.

John Davis passed away from cancer in 1999.

http://www.shermangalleries.com.au/artists/inartists/artist_profile.asp%3Fartist=davisj.html

John Davis is listed in the following categories.

Environmental Sculpture Artists
A list of sculptors who work with environmental themes and found natural materials.

Australian Artists
List of contemporary working Australian painters and artists based in the country of Australia.

Australian Art Companies
Browse Australian art resources and artists by region throughout the country of Australia.