RISE ART FEATURES BRYNLEY ODU DAVIES AS AN ARTIST TO LOOK OUT FOR THIS MAY.
"If you have half an eye on the UK’s emerging art scene, you have probably already seen Brynley Odu Davies’ work. In the last three years the photographer has produced portraits of over 200 artists in their studios, many of which will be on show at his first solo exhibition with Studio West. One of few people documenting the practitioners who define and push forward our culture, Davies’ work is important and interesting now, and will only become more so as time goes on. When I met the photographer earlier this year we spoke about the importance of recording the present moment which, as it recedes into the past, will inevitably disappear from both collective and individual memory if it goes undocumented. We spoke about Simon Wheatley, a photographer who spent much of the early 2000s taking portraits of grime MC’s. Years later, many of the people he photographed are household names and the scene that he documented in its infancy has grown into a global phenomenon.
Not all of the artists photographed by Davies will end up being stars. Some will – some already are – and Davies’ work allows us to see how their journey started. Some will move on to other things, leaving the art world behind them. What’s important, though, is that – thanks to photographer like Davies – this moment in time won’t disappear."
