"Davyd Oram is an artist hewn, sprouted, broken from this west coast shoreline. His perspective skewed and enlightened by being one of the few who can lay claim to what passes for a long pacific coast lineage formed and forged through the old dying and dead trades of the past; grasping and gasping in death throes alongside the elderly retiree tourists who now crowd our shore. He tackles life like splitting firewood.. tossed aside with furious axe blows into odd arrangements that show a blend of what was and what is and what can be. He, with hungry mind and feet, clambers up mountains and trudges down grown-in old skidder trails to see, seek, and learn about the dreamers and exiles, deviants and visionaries, who fled, were chased, and who sought out, the end and edge of empire. Dave joins his pen sketches and brush strokes in solidarity with all those who came before him and shook fists in the face of the coal barons and power brokers who made their money off of the sweat and toil of the honest man and woman. He shares with us a vision soaked in the piss and vinegar of the handlogger, the handliner, the coal miner, the martyred union leader, the rail riding balladeer, the ancestors whose blood and sweat, dreams and booze, hope and fear lay dirt deep beneath the beds we sleep. Their dreams have become his. Old blood and spit from his knuckles and lips upon the canvas to speak old truths to new generations."
The Proof
1. Start the day right. Pre-set coffee machine so when you wake up its ready to go.
2. Check the emails at 6am, and at 8 and at 10. I spend too much time in this spot, dealing with stuff and drifting on random 'research'.
3. In the studio space I have lists upon lists of jobs, client work, what comes next in the day and what supplies I need to keep rolling.
4. A commission i'm working on currently. There is always one of these up on the stands and a list of others waiting to get knocked off.
5. My workspace. Messy, cluttered and far more organised than I have ever been before in tiny cramped cabins.
6. When there is a kid in your life you spend a lot of time picking up the toys so you dont break your ankles. But you also get a lot of bright color palette ideas.
7. Signs + tight lettering = Cramped hands. The end result is always worth it though.
8. View from the back porch. Where relaxation / breaks go down.
The Questions
What neighbourhood do you live in?
The Wet coastline.
What do you do and where?
I paint paintings and do live murals, slap ink at looseleaf paper. Illustrations out of empty pages. Travel around exploring this ghostline coastline and uncovering old and new gems along the way that turn rusty and break down in the rain, becoming elements in my brush and ink work.
What are you working on?
I am always working. The current stuff though is a series of live mural events to benefit a small museum in Egmont, BC where my family is originally from. I am also developing a new body of work around the concept 'Ghostline / Coastline', hopefully to show in 2012 if I can find a space big enough or gallery interested in hosting it. Then there is always the commission pieces and various illustration work that comes my way, which I always love more of.
Where can we find your work?
You can find my work online at my site: www.veniceissinking.com
