Julyan Davis is an English-born artist based in Asheville, North Carolina. He received his art training at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London. In 1988, having completed his B.A. in painting and printmaking, he traveled to the South on a painting trip that was also fueled by an interest in the history of Demopolis, Alabama and its settling by Bonapartist exiles.

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Biography

Julyan Davis

Julyan Davis is an English-born artist based in Asheville, North Carolina. He received his art training at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London. In 1988, having completed his B.A. in painting and printmaking, he traveled to the South on a painting trip that was also fueled by an interest in the history of Demopolis, Alabama and its settling by Bonapartist exiles. Julyan’s work has been exhibited from New York to Europe and is in many public and private collections. Recent acquisitions include the Gibbes Museum in Charleston, the Greenville County Museum of Art (South Carolina), the Morris Museum (Augusta, Ga.) and the North Carolina Governor’s Mansion and Western Residence.  His series ‘Dark Corners: The Appalachian Murder Ballads’, interpreting traditional American ballads through the contemporary South, has been touring regional museums since 2012 with accompanying lectures and musical performances. In 2018 he was artist-in-residence at the Gibbes Museum, where he began the book ‘The Mermaid Storm’ in collaboration with South Carolina poet Glenis Redmond.

Exhibitions

2015      Spartanburg Art Museum, Spartanburg, SC

2014      Myrtle Beach Museum of Art, SC

2013      Helena Fox Fine Art, Charleston, SC

2013      Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA

2012      Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, SC

2012      Hickory Museum of Art (group show)

2012      Helena Fox Fine Art, Charleston, SC.

2011      The Bascom Art Museum, Highlands, NC

2011      Kiawah Island, SC

2010      Cabarrus Arts Council, Concord, NC

2009      Scope Art Fair, Miami/Amsterdam/London

2009      Tinney Contemporary, Nashville, TN

2009      Greenhut Galleries, Portland, Maine

2009      Art London, London, UK

2008      Mauger Modern Art, Bath, UK

2007      Carolina Galleries, Charleston, SC

2007      Mason Murer Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2004      The Fine Arts Center, Highlands,NC.

2004      John Tucker Fine Art, Savannah, GA.

2002      Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL

2001      Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT

1998      Francis Kyle Gallery, London, UK

1997      Entergy Building, New Orleans, LA

1995      First Street Gallery, New York, NY

1995      Atlantic Gallery, Washington, DC

1994      Mistral Gallery, London, UK

1993      Gadsden Arts Center, Gadsden, AL

1988      Poole Art Center, Poole, Dorset, UK

Select Press

Fine Art Connoisseur

Fine Art Connoisseur
Julyan Davis
February 2017
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Podcast
Story Made Podcast
Matt Sawyer|5/29/2023
Our conversation this week is with Julyan Davis - artist, writer, narrative painter of the American South and West, explorer of lost stories, child of England and citizen of the world.
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“If you’re able to find beauty in what everyone else doesn’t consider for a second, there’s a great richness in that. In a way you’ve made your own discovery.” In 1988, Julyan wandered into Sotheran’s Rare Books in London, England and discovered ‘Stars Fell on Alabama’ by Carl Carmer. Transfixed by the state’s history and a 19th century colony settled by Napoleonic exiles, he followed his curiosity to the source. After a few months spent working odd jobs and saving money, he set off on a great adventure from England to the American South – the untidy land of wistful melancholy that would shape his art and life. He’d eventually settle in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, finding in them a strange kinship and connection to his homelands.

When he was struggling to earn a spot at an art school, Julyan decided to take his own advice. He found the meeting point of all his particular interests and created a life there. He pursued his dream with conviction and certainty for so long that by the time he realized how difficult it would be, it was too late. He was an artist.

In this episode you’ll hear Julyan talk about his great adventure from England to Alabama, walking as a lifestyle, finding beauty where others don’t look, the never-ending story of American Ghosts, connecting Appalachia and the Scottish borders, the art of creating for yourself, creating a timeless children’s story for his son, and much more. 

Location: Julyan’s home | Asheville, NC

Visit Julyan’s Website!

Buy his debut novel, A History of Saints

 

Mentioned in this episode, for you to explore:

The Mind of the South by W.J. Cash

Excerpts from The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

Stars Fell on Alabama by Carl Carmer

Carson McCullers

Searching for the Wrong-Eyes Jesus

Caspar David Friedrich

City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, NC

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Bruce Chatwin: One of the Last Great Explorers

Walking with Werner Herzog

Paris, Texas (1984)

The Story of Picher, Oklahoma

‘There’s No Memory of the Joy.’ Why 40 Years of Superfund Work Hasn’t Saved Tar Creek

Cheap Old Houses

Edward Hopper

Andrew Wyeth

Populism and the World of Oz

Dark on Netflix

The Storied South by William Ferris

Helpmate Domestic Violence Services

How Erwin, Tenn. Is Reinventing Its Legacy of Killing Mary The Elephant

The Professor’s House by Willa Cather

‘Luddite’ Teens Don’t Want Your Likes

A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor

Glenis Redmond

‘Weather Vane’ by Common Market

‘Language of My World’ by Macklemore

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Eugenics and Sex Harmony by Rubin Herman

Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane

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