Joanna
Mallin-Davies

Joanna’s work has always been heavily influenced by the strength and integrity of the prehistoric cave paintings of Lascaux.

She says
‘At college it was purely the image of the horse that fascinated me, the ironically wild carrousel horses, bobbing hopelessly, as a metaphor for the human condition. From there I immersed myself in 'The Horse' as it has been represented in art and literature throughout history. “Few subjects have had such strong symbolic significance to man, and few images, other than the nude, have been so frequently observed in art.
“I studied artists such as George Stubbs, Eugene Delacroix, Degas, Marc Chagall, Franz Marc, and Marino Marini as well as the portrayal of the horse in the ancient civilisations of Greece, Rome and most importantly for me, ancient China and Japan. The colours and dress of modern race horses were a great spur for me too, as I lived in the grounds of a race course, where I was surrounded by the most refined evolution of the creature.
Alongside this was my development of an idea and feeling of 'Woman'. Simple, sensual curves and inflated weightlessness were very much a feature of the horses I made – the manifestation of this second underlying preoccupation with the essence of female form and presence.’