About

Louis Wootton-Davies is a contemporary painter and sculptor based in Oxford. His work explores themes of his working class experience and pub culture through a unique blend of realism and grunge. With a background in fine arts from Oxford Brookes University, Louis’ art has been exhibited in galleries across the UK with paintings being held in private collections across the world. Wootton-Davies is currently in the process of preparing work for his debut solo exhibition in August, at the Soden Collection.

Through his painting and sculpture practice, Louis Wootton-Davies explores his working class experience. Using a blend of family archived photography and self conducted interviews, he grasps the feeling of camaraderie between workers within the local pub setting. His work acts as a community’s walk home from the pub, with his pieces often evoking a sense of nostalgia.

“My Paintings, when you look closely, are just a jumble of random shapes. Your brain fills in the gaps to make a car, or a house, or window. When you really focus on them, they disperse into nothing. The uncertainty that creates, relates to my working class experience and the ‘failure’ of my Dad’s car breakers business. Growing up through this, my parents did such a great job of disguising the fact that it was all going to shit. This is the working class mentality of ‘it’s fine’ and ‘there isn’t a problem’. 

My upcoming exhibition at the Soden Collection is called ‘Pub Money’, this is also the name of one of my paintings. It [Pub Money the painting] depicts an Indian Takeaway in my village, down the road from my family home. My Dad started working there, doing food deliveries, when money was getting tight and the business had gone under. He’d call it pub money, he’d say he was working there for a bit of extra pub money, but then he’d end up working on Friday and Saturday nights when he was supposed to be in the pub, if that was actually the reason he was working there, then it was completely counterproductive. I think the term ‘Pub Money, is particularly interesting because it’s something people say when they’re tight on cash and don’t want to admit that they’re fucking skint.”

Education

Wootton-Davies studied an Art and Design Foundation Diploma, at Oxford Brookes University, in order to further develop his artistic practice. He went on to the Fine Art Degree course at the same University, where he graduated with a 2:1, leading him onto the MFA Program at OBU; where he recently graduated.