like pollock, many of davie's works were executed by standing above the painting, which was laid on the ground. he added layers of paint until sometimes the original painting had been covered over many times. despite the speed at which he worked (he usually had several paintings on the go at once), however, he was adamant that his images are not pure abstraction, but all have significance as symbols. championing the primitive, he saw the role of the artist as akin to that of the shaman, and remarked upon how disparate cultures have adopted common symbols in their visual languages.