Surreal Fantasy By Mike Davis

Mike Davis is a modern surrealist painter, who currently lives and works in San Francisco, California. Though possessing a multi-disciplinary set of interests, Davis began painting in 1999, and attributes his inspiration to watching his mother pursue craft projects during his childhood, and immersing himself in art history throughout his career. From helping his mother with projects ranging from woodworking, hand-tooling, and remodeling the family's home, to engaging with ancient art and Netherlandish painting from the Northern Renaissance, Davis is a self-taught painter, who continues to render complex paintings of surrealist medieval life, embedded with symbols of mortality, folly, and hubris, fixated within whimsical compositions.

Davis has been featured in numerous exhibitions throughout San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Montreal, and Rome. His solo exhibitions include Stories From the Other Side of the Bridge at Joshua Liner Gallery, New York (2009); and Solo Flight at White Walls Gallery, San Francisco (2008). Davis has also presented at several group exhibitions, which include Oil and Water at C.A.V.E Gallery, Venice (2011); Visionary Art at Mondo Bizzarro Gallery, Rome (2010); Blood Royale at Galerie d'Art Yves Laroche, Montreal (2008); In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz Factor at Laguna Art Museum (2008); and Mike Davis and Mike Giant at White Walls Gallery, San Francisco (2006).

In addition to painting, Mike Davis is the owner of his internationally-renowned tattoo shop, Everlasting Tattoo. His paintings and tattoo art have been featured in many publications, such as Juxtapoz Magazine; Art Ltd.; Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art; Tatt Book: Visionaries of Tattoo; and several high traffic art blogs. Davis has tattooed an extensive list of international and celebrity clientele, and is featured in a number of prestigious private art collections located throughout the United States, Canada, Italy, United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden.