David Davies is a mixed-media artist whose work merges charcoal drawings with layered paintings to create figurative works that serve as spiritual investigations. He attended Milwaukee High School of the Arts before earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from University of New Mexico in 1997. In 2000, he completed a Master of Fine Arts degree at Hunter College in New York City. For the past fifteen years, Davies has worked as a high school art teacher, balancing a commitment to arts education with an active studio practice.

Working across drawing and painting media, Davies explores themes of spirituality, devotion, and transcendence. A deep relationship with God is central to his work, with art approached as an act of ritual, meditation, and at times, prayer. Through figurative imagery and symbolic forms, his work investigates ideas surrounding the spirit, mortality, and the possibility of life after death.

The dramatic religious allegories and chiaroscuro techniques of Baroque painters such as Caravaggio and Francisco de Zurbarán serve as major influences. Their use of darkness, theatrical illumination, and spiritual intensity inspires the dark backdrops and luminous contrasts found throughout Davies’ charcoal drawings. Recurring imagery of flames and smoke permeates the work, functioning as visual metaphors for the ephemeral nature of the soul and spirit.

While the charcoal drawings emphasize stark tonal contrasts and contemplative atmospheres, the paintings expand these themes through the use of mixed media and collage. In these works, brighter and more saturated color palettes introduce a heightened emotional and spiritual resonance, creating layered compositions that bridge the material and the transcendent.