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Three life-size figures form a vulnerable and expectant group, the realism of which is achieved by lifecasting and applying hair and fibreglass eyes, second-hand clothes and shoes. With external references reduced to the minimum, the ensemble stands on a dais that emphasises its theatrical quality. The characters are ashen, throwing into relief

Davies¿ command of texture and chromatic refinement, qualities that grant his figures an archaeological and transcendent appearance. As in other works from his early period, (Every) War Memorial evokes the existentialism of the Theatre of the Absurd, culturally predominant in the sixties and seventies, and above all the oeuvre of Samuel Beckett, which had made a deep impression on the sculptor. Furthermore, this work appeals to social awareness expressed through art, for it is inspired in a press cutting of a photograph of a street in Beirut after a bomb explosion. [Marta García Maruri]

Selected bibliography

• John Davies : esculturas y dibujos desde 1968 = Sculptures and drawings since 1968 [Cat. exp.]. Valencia ; Bilbao, IVAM Institut Valencià d'Art Modern ; Fundación Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2004. pp. 37, 81, 85, 93, 120-121.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 203.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 203.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 203.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2011. pp. 204-205, n° cat. 146a.
• Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa : gida. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2012. pp. 204-205, n° cat. 146a.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. pp. 204-205.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. pp. 204-205.
• Escultura hiperrealista, 1973-2016 [Cat. exp.]. Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2016. pp. 58-59.
• Bilboko Museoaren alfabetoa = El alfabeto del Museo de Bilbao = The alphabet of the Bilbao Museum = L'alphabet du Musée de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 356-365, n° cat. 200.
• Adquisiciones 02/07 [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2007. pp. 106-107, n° cat. 44.
• Viar, Javier. Hijos de la angustia. Bilbao, Muelle de Uribitarte, 2019. pp. 229, 251, il.