Steve Davies: Made at the Alex 21 - 30 July

I've taken over the walls at the Alex for an exhibition until we close for August. 

All the works on display here were made after we moved to the Alex in February 2022. More than that, nearly all of them were made when we were open to the public. When the doors are closed, there is plenty of other work to be done, running and maintaining the place. So it’s something of a surprise to me that I’ve got so much done. Partly because of this limited time window, I tend to work at speed. Make decisions quickly. Let my body take over. Sure, mistakes occur. But the point is to work with them. In the moment. 

Printmaking is a graphic art. As such its roots are in drawing. It comes out of organising and selecting from the world. A way of honing things down, of cutting away what is not essential. A way of dealing with too much information. Printmaking is also a way of sneaking up on your subject matter. The process of cutting – taking away the “non-drawn” parts and working in the mirror image of the final print – creates a distance between the artist and the work. So there is always something in the end that surprises me.