Unmasked
Behind the Mask
When Gail Davis speaks about freedom, she is not talking about rebellion. There is no dramatic rupture with the past, no rejection of the work that has defined her career to date. Instead, she describes something quieter and more demanding: the decision to expand beyond permission.
For years, Gail has been recognised for her commissioned portraiture, work that is sensitive, disciplined and deeply human. These commissions remain an essential and valued part of her practice. “They matter enormously to me,” she says. “They’ve shaped how I see people, how I listen, how I work.” Commissioned work, she is quick to point out, is not something she is leaving behind. It is a living, ongoing dialogue with clients, families and institutions who entrust her to capture something lasting.
But commission is also, by its nature, a negotiation. A likeness must be recognisable, expectations managed, emotional outcomes carefully held. The work must satisfy not only the artist, but those who have commissioned it. Over time, Gail began to feel the subtle constraints this placed on her more exploratory instincts.
“There are questions you don’t always get to ask in commissioned work — and places you don’t always get to go.”
The project she is now embarking on - Unmasked - emerges from that tension. It is not a rejection of portraiture, but an extension of it. A move away from depiction and towards interpretation. Where commissioned work often asks the artist to refine and resolve, this new body of work allows Gail to remain open—to risk not knowing where a painting will end. “I’ve realised that to grow, I have to give myself permission,” she says. “Permission to respond instinctively. Permission to sit with discomfort of the unknown.”
At the centre of the project is an object both familiar and psychologically loaded: the mask. Twelve individuals, referred to not as sitters, but as persona’s will be invited into a process that begins far from the studio. Each will receive a mask, alongside a set of visual and emotional stimulus allowing them to tell their story. What follows is not performance, but introspection.
The masks will be the ‘canvas' , marked and transformed by the participants themselves, becoming vessels for personal narrative. Some may speak to protection or performance, others to rupture or resilience. There is no prescribed outcome, no aesthetic direction. Once completed, the mask is handed to Gail, not as a brief, but as a provocation. She does not seek explanation or context. Instead, she allows the object to communicate on its own terms, responding through paint with instinct rather than instruction.
“The mask carries emotional charge – my role isn’t to illustrate it, or decode it literally. It’s to let it affect me, and to see what emerges.”
The resulting portraits may resist traditional likeness. They function as psychological landscapes, painted responses shaped by tension, empathy and interpretation. In contrast to commissioned portraiture, where clarity and recognition are often paramount, these works allow ambiguity to remain intact.
The twelve portraits will be exhibited in early 2027 opening with a private view attended by the participants and those who have supp supported the project.
Funding for the project comes through individual sponsorship of each portrait, either by the participant or by an external collector. The approach is deliberately slow and sustained, allowing the work to develop over ten months rather than being driven by deadlines. Ownership transfers after the exhibition, but the value is immediate: these are singular works, shaped by process as much as outcome. In art terms, priceless.
Commissioned portraiture will continue to sit at the heart of Gail’s practice, but alongside it now exists a parallel path, one that allows for deeper conceptual exploration and a broader artistic voice. Future projects may build on this framework, expanding into new series, new contexts and new audiences.
For now, the focus is on the act itself: painting without permission, and trusting that what emerges; unresolved, intimate, and deeply human, is enough.
To become an investor and bring this important journey to life, contact directly at artgaildavis@gmail.com.