By: DAVIES, Paul Adrian Peregrine (1947-1993)

Acq. Number: 735

Dimensions: 94.5 x 125 cm

Artwork_Medium: mixed media on paper

Purchased: 2003

Buyer: BALA, Iwan

Location: Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales National Museum Cardiff

Town: Cardiff

Content: Iwan Bala: Paul Davies is, I feel, still overlooked as an energetic influence on Welsh art in the later part of the 20th century. As instigator with his brother Peter, of Beca, his role in Wales' politicized art movement is assured, but he also introduced innovative practice into Wales' art-world. Not always an easy man, often frustrated by the lack of vision in Wales and angered by the 'colonised mentality', he has had a lasting effect on artists as diverse as Ivor Davies, Tim Davies, David Garner and myself as well as younger artists who were his students in Bangor, such as Bedwyr Williams. His work is 'difficult' for collectors but this piece, Mappa Mundi is a framed drawing, and one of, if not the last, pieces of art which he completed before his untimely death. The ink and mixed media work is a plan drawing that captures his ideas for a major groundwork in Merthyr, and also his view, I think, of Wales and its place in the world. It becomes a map of the artist's mind, and a fine example of his direct, expressive, diagrammatic approach.