Painter, legal expert, seasoned traveller and history aficionado, there is no mistaking that Eleri is one talented individual. Her answers to my following questions were beautifully articulated and imbued with intelligent ideas. Indeed, such intellect not only allows Eleri to technically create her pieces but, like most artists with a broad spectrum of knowledge, enables her to add a great deal of depth to them. Though, complex ideas aside, our story here starts with something quite simple – cake.
On a hot summer’s day in August last year, I attended Blackwater Gallery’s exhibition, ‘OBJECTS’, in Cardiff. Given the name, I was expecting to see the likes of household items, luxury goods and kitchen utensils, either in the form of paintings or Duchamp’s 1917 Fountain (this ‘fountain’ was a urinal that Duchamp placed in a New York gallery to shake up definitions surrounding works of art). Yet as I wandered around the gallery, I suddenly found myself stopping and looking ahead in awe.
For in front of me was not a toilet nor an impression of one, but mouthwatering paintings of incredibly realistic looking cakes by Eleri Davies; the very ones you can see here.
As mentioned in a recent issue of the magazine, and in a similar manner to Georgia in the previous article, I’m often inspired to create themes for the magazine based upon my immediate surroundings. The last time I had visited Blackwater Gallery for example, the artworks on display had formulated the basis for the issue ‘Memory & Time’ (a pretty deep issue that dives into themes of nostalgia, ideas of home, grief and hope, I recommend reading it if you haven’t already). Now, in the same spot a few months later, I found myself examining the brilliance of Eleri’s paintings; the radiance of the oils; the artistic symmetry; the balance of colour. Within moments I had two queries entering my inner dialogue – how could I integrate these works into an issue of Art Etcetera? And where on earth was the nearest bakery?
Leaving the gallery and, after buying several welsh cakes from the independent bakery in Cardiff Bay, I decided to visit Eleri’s works online. Immediately I could see that this talented artist created many different kinds of brilliant artworks, namely that of portraiture. Though for me, it was her pieces that I had seen in the gallery that stuck in my mind. In fact, they inspired me to come up with a theme for an entire issue – food.
When I attempt to get to know an artist, my first question is not how they create or where they go for inspiration (I never quite understand why a lot of journalistic articles start out like this). Of course, I attempt to gain such knowledge as the conversation unfolds, yet I believe that to really get to know an artist, you need to know why they felt a need to create in the first place. This is because, at the heart of it, all artistic creation is essentially a form of expression, regardless of the medium that is used. So hence the initial question I pose is - ‘why art? Was there a need to express yourself?’
