The National Gallery of Victoria will be celebrating the work of influential Australian artist, John Davis in August. Entitled John Davis: Presence, the show draws together sculpture, photography and installation from his early work in the sixties until his death in the nineties.

Davis often used fish in his work; symbolic of nomadic lifestyle and “a metaphor for people and the way we move around the world”, himself moving round Europe and America as a traveller before settling in Melbourne, an idea which links his work and the whole show. In reality, I make one work over my life, so that when it’s all finished, there are a number of parts or contributions to an overall piece, each linking to another in some way.”

While his practice was very much focussed on his awareness of ecology and the relationship between humans and their environments using primarily organic materials, this idea is even more powerful today and his sculptures have even greater resonance. Get down to Melbourne this Winter and celebrate the beauty and fragility of the Australian landscape, explored through Davis’ body of work.

John Davis: Presence will be on display at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Federation Square from 6 August to 24 October 2010.

Grace Joel