Jan Murphy Gallery is pleased to present Arenas, the first solo exhibition by Archer Davies with the gallery. This body of work was inspired by time spent at Brisbane’s iconic Royal Queensland Show, The Ekka, alongside fellow artist Lucy Culliton in 2024.
Drawn to the contrasts between human performance and quiet animal presence, Davies’ works explore the intimate yet dissonant worlds of spectacle and stillness. The neon carnival, the roar of motorcross, the poise of equestrian display—all exist alongside patient, watching animals. Through a series of oil paintings rooted in Ekka sketches, photographs, and life models, Arenas offers meditative reflections on theatre, ritual, and the animal gaze.
Davies draws on European art history to inform his compositions. The Big Jump reimagines Degas’ Cafe Concert: Song of the Dog through an Ekka lens, with motocross performers and festival crowds. In Arenas, a ballerina-model inspired by Watteau’s Pierrot appears isolated amidst movement and celebration, her gaze detached yet evocative, a horse standing as quiet observer.
These works evoke the spectacle of performance while grounding themselves in the everyday. References to Lautrec, Degas, and Watteau emerge not as pastiche but as layered visual echoes within Davies’ distinctly Australian scenes.
About the Artist
Born in Maleny, Queensland, Archer Davies graduated with First Class Honours in Fine Art (Painting) from Queensland College of Art in 2010. He has been a finalist in The Kilgour Prize (2021), The Percival Portrait Prize (2019, 2014), the Rick Amor Self Portrait Prize (2018), and the Churchie Emerging Art Prize (2014). In 2024, he was featured in the Thames & Hudson publication About Face by Amber Creswell Bell.
Meet the Artists:
Archer Davies and Lucy Culliton
Saturday 9 August, 2 – 4pm
