CONTEMPORARY ART STOCKROOM Jo Davenport

Jo Davenport’s beautifully gestural paintings speak of an intense relationship with nature and an intimate experience of the artist's local environment. Her rich, painterly depictions represent the passing of time, the transience of the landscape and the ephemeral nature of memory itself. The vitality of the landscape that surrounds Davenport feeds into her paintings to create sophisticated fields of tension and release. Each painting is imbued with an energy that is a unique response – one that is rich and full of life. Ultimately these works reflect a conviction that life is never a passive encounter, but rather a transformative journey toward greater understanding.

Installation view of Early Spring, 2020 (centre) and
Bushland Renewal, 2020 (left)

'A deep sense of optimism and reverence has been imbued within the vibrant abstract images painted by Albury artist Jo Davenport. While connected to the tradition of landscape painting, in which the artist records the natural world around them, Davenport’s practice moves beyond the literal or representational, shifting toward an interior, felt response to the sensations of the landscape.

Within her skilful treatment, paint becomes a vehicle toward an entirely deeper understanding of the restorative needs of our ecosystem. For her, the role of the artist is to translate the energy of the landscape, to see the self and the environment that support us as a connected whole. “I want each of my paintings to be a celebration of the life-force of the land, and for my work to be part of a solution that shifts human’s impact toward one of hope and restoration.” Through the humble act of surrendering to the beauty of nature, we might all find such moments of personal and creative revival.'
Excerpt from catalogue essay by Phe Luxford. 2020

Installation view of Reflected Sky, 2020 (left)
and Grey Skies, 2020 (right)

'My paintings become an act of reverence for the landscape, a desire to study and observe the natural beauty and profound complexity of nature around me” says Davenport. “I look for a point between recognition, of the landscape, and the sensed experience of it. The abstraction allows for a layering of meaning that can be experienced in unison, the painting therefore is never static, yet there is an element of spirit too, in a constant striving for something just beyond the visible.'
Jo Davenport, Artist Statement 2020

Installation view of The Back Block, 2020 (centre)

Whilst painting has always been a central part of Jo Davenport’s life, her career accelerated in 2011 with the completion of her Masters degree from the Victorian College of the Arts. In the following years her practice quickly gained the attention of both curators and collectors alike and in 2013 was included in Wangaratta Art Gallery’s major painting survey Action/Abstraction, showing alongside artists such as Sally Gabori, Todd Hunter, Ildiko Kovacs, and Aida Tomescu. Davenport undertook a residency at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery in Hill End in October 2015 and held a major solo exhibition at MAMA Regional Gallery in Albury in 2016. In the same year her work Sunshine and Rain was acquired by Artbank. Most recently she has been an active member of Earth Canvas, a collective of respected artists working with regenrative farmers in NSW.

Davenport has been a finalist in the King's School Art Prize (2019), Paddington Art Prize (2017), the Chippendale World Art Residency Landscape Prize, Tattersall's Club Prize for Landscape, the R M McGivern Prize, and the recipient of The Langridge Painting Award, the Shelmedine Acquisitive Art Award, the Alliance Francaise Award and the Pigment Gallery Award. She has staged major public solo exhibitions at MAMA (Murray Art Museum Albury,) Bathurst Regional Art Gallery and was curated into a group show at the Wangaratta Regional Gallery. Davenport's work is held in the collections of Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Leeuwin Estate Art Collection, Artbank, Hong Kong's Norman Foster Club House Tai Po, Wangaratta Regional Art Gallery, The University of Melbourne, Mercy Hospital Albury and ArtStream Investment Group, as well as in private collections in Australia, UK, USA, Hong Kong, France, Canada and Japan. A constant traveller, Davenport has undertaken residencies and research trips globally, drawing on the landscapes of Europe, Asia and Australia to inform her practice. Davenport has been successfully exhibiting with Flinders Lane Gallery since 2012.

End of Day, 2018

JO DAVENPORT MONOGRAPH SOLD OUT
Since graduating from her Masters Degree at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2011 Albury-based artist Jo Davenport has rapidly established herself as one of Australia's finest abstract painters. This 100pp full colour monograph spans the last 7 years of Davenport's practice and celebrates the evolution of her painterly engagement with the landscape of the Hume Region. Featuring a selection of glorious works from past exhibitions and accompanying catalogue essays, this monograph will be a collector's item for anyone who has found themselves entranced by this artist's evocative images. Limited edition of 100, full colour, printed on 300gsm satin art paper and PUR bound. Each book signed and editioned by the artist. Each limited-edition book is signed and numbered by the artist.