Who are you and what do you do?
David Dauncey: I am an Englishman, I studied ceramics at University, as well as fine art. Eventually I moved into panting full-time and held positions at a couple of Art companies before starting my own business.
I paint de-constructed portraits, full of imperfections, surface quality, doubt, mistakes and love. I know more of myself through the people I paint and each day before I paint with nothing in my pocket, no wedding ring on my hand, no watch in my waistcoat. I enjoy painting to music each day. New gray hairs appear and if only one then that qualifies as change and growth. I try not to look too deeply into the eyes of my influences, but by no means do I exclude them from my lexicon of marks.
Artists are very often Magpie’s stealing glittery little bits from others to line their own burgeoning mindscapes. I love to paint, and at times I love to ignore it and refresh to get my hands dirty in the cactus beds.
How did you get your start?
I was studying to be a mechanic of sorts, but two good friends of mine encouraged me to apply to art school. Obviously they had little faith in my mechanical ways.
What inspires you?
The walls of foreign countries, music, my peers, those that have come before. I think there is a crop of female artists based in Arizona at this time who can give any state a run for its money. So many inspirations: Kathe Kollwitz, Larry Rivers, Jenny Saville, Lucian Freud, Robert Rauschenberg, Joan Mitchell, Bonnard Soutine, Diego Velasquez, Antonio Tapies, as well as many current artists such as Daniel Segrove, Paul Christina and Razvan Boar.
What do you like about AZ?
I love that my wife is from here, that my children were born here, the cacti (exotic looking, to a kid from middle England), orange blossoms, my friends, the stubborn landscape, adults that ride children’s bikes, the strong Hispanic flavor and food, the mountains of the North.
Where can we see you(r) work?
I am represented by Costello-Childs Contemporary in Scottsdale, as well as several art consultants, mainly in the Western U.S. You can come ‘round for a visit to my studio and have coffee and discuss what you would like to buy ☺
What would you like to accomplish before you die?
To see my kids do better things then I. To watch them become even more amazing would be priceless, uncountable. To buy a small farm in France, to visit many of the great grounds of European soccer that I have not visited. To master an instrument, to fully speak French and Italian, to still be regarded with a loving eye by my wife, to walk in more fog and more woods, to own a keen axe for wood-chopping.
What is your mantra?
“Everything in moderation” and “Adopt, Adapt, Improve”
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