Artist: Alan Davie (Scottish, 1920–2014)
Artwork Title: Stop Fortunate Fig Wheel
Year: 1997
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 96.5cm x 76.2cm
Presentation: Framed
Alan Davie’s Stop Fortunate Fig Wheel (1997) is a richly layered oil on canvas that brings together the symbols, words and freely invented imagery that became central to the artist’s distinctive visual language.
Against a vivid turquoise ground, Davie constructs an enigmatic world of wheel-like forms, ladders, architectural structures, pictographic marks and curious organic shapes. Words including “BREATHE” and “Stop” appear directly within the composition, blurring the distinction between written language and visual symbol. The recurring circular and wheel motifs create a strong sense of movement, while areas of orange, yellow, red and black punctuate the surface.
Davie’s work was deeply informed by his interest in mythology, spirituality, ancient cultures and systems of symbolic communication. Rather than giving his imagery a single fixed meaning, he used signs and forms intuitively, allowing unexpected associations to emerge through the process of painting.
Created in 1997, Stop Fortunate Fig Wheel is a compelling example of Davie’s later practice: energetic, mysterious and densely populated with the personal vocabulary of signs, words and archetypal forms that characterised his work.
Artist: Alan Davie (Scottish, 1920–2014)
Artwork Title: Stop Fortunate Fig Wheel
Year: 1997
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 96.5cm x 76.2cm
Presentation: Framed
Alan Davie’s Stop Fortunate Fig Wheel (1997) is a richly layered oil on canvas that brings together the symbols, words and freely invented imagery that became central to the artist’s distinctive visual language.
Against a vivid turquoise ground, Davie constructs an enigmatic world of wheel-like forms, ladders, architectural structures, pictographic marks and curious organic shapes. Words including “BREATHE” and “Stop” appear directly within the composition, blurring the distinction between written language and visual symbol. The recurring circular and wheel motifs create a strong sense of movement, while areas of orange, yellow, red and black punctuate the surface.
Davie’s work was deeply informed by his interest in mythology, spirituality, ancient cultures and systems of symbolic communication. Rather than giving his imagery a single fixed meaning, he used signs and forms intuitively, allowing unexpected associations to emerge through the process of painting.
Created in 1997, Stop Fortunate Fig Wheel is a compelling example of Davie’s later practice: energetic, mysterious and densely populated with the personal vocabulary of signs, words and archetypal forms that characterised his work.
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