Highly acclaimed for his portraiture work, Colin Davidson’s images are particularly evocative when they depict the familiar features of Belfast, writes Riann Coulter
Over the last decade, Colin Davidson has gained international renown for his large-scale portraits of actors, musicians, writers and politicians. However, while portraiture is the most visible manifestation of Davidson’s practice, it is only one element of a multifaceted oeuvre, the result of an artist continually striving to challenge himself and explore new territory. This curiosity has produced nudes, still lives, landscapes and, recently, explorations in three dimensions. Until 2010, Davidson was best known for urban scenes, initially atmospheric views of Belfast and later complex renderings of city life reflected in the glazed surfaces of office buildings. From a derelict house, painted when the artist was a teenager, to his first large portrait, an image of local musician Duke Special, Davidson’s current exhibition traces his artistic journey and situates the portraits within the context of his wider practice.
Unravelling the sequence of carving on the stones has been challenging but has been helped by the fact that there are so many examples to study, writes Elizabeth Shee Twohig
