Jay Davis
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Gallery Statement / Profile
The art of Jay Davis offers the viewer a glimpse into an image/place/object, leaving the balance to be filled-in or extrapolated from the base of what is given. Sometimes the glimpse is a reference to the familiar—Aztec and Native American patterns, geodes, tires, temples, simple photograms, photo color tests, doorways, portals or magic carpets—sometimes the work is an artifice of an image, or a state of seeing that image, such as that which occurs with night blindness, light blindness (a blackout or staring at the sun), or pareidolia (the imagined perception of seeing a face, a pattern or someone you know, but it does not really exist). All of this work has mystery built into it—in the image and in the method it was conceived and executed. It provides an interaction that reflects both the simplicity and complexity of our physical and psychological spaces, and our malleable relation to the world around us.
Davis’ newest works are mixed media on paper with a focus on ethnographic patterns that evoke visions of something familiar, yet far away. Davis’ paintings are extremely detailed and imaginative with layers of saturated hues of acrylic paint built up to a pristine flat surface on vinyl or canvas that provide a hyper-real visual experience. The paintings also contain more representational elements, yet they are equally abstract with fictional spaces and illusionistic overlays that seem dream-like, taking the viewer on a psychedelic journey that requires their active participation to create the narrative.
Born 1975 in Charleston, SC, he now lives and works in New York. Since 2000, he has had over a dozen solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and Santa Fe at Mary Boone Gallery, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, CTRL Gallery, Stefan Stux Gallery and David Richard Contemporary. He has also participated in over 40 group exhibitions in the US and internationally, including the Prague Biennale. Davis’ work is included in the Saatchi Collection, Progressive Art Collection and JP Morgan Chase Collection.
Davis’ newest works are mixed media on paper with a focus on ethnographic patterns that evoke visions of something familiar, yet far away. Davis’ paintings are extremely detailed and imaginative with layers of saturated hues of acrylic paint built up to a pristine flat surface on vinyl or canvas that provide a hyper-real visual experience. The paintings also contain more representational elements, yet they are equally abstract with fictional spaces and illusionistic overlays that seem dream-like, taking the viewer on a psychedelic journey that requires their active participation to create the narrative.
Born 1975 in Charleston, SC, he now lives and works in New York. Since 2000, he has had over a dozen solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and Santa Fe at Mary Boone Gallery, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, CTRL Gallery, Stefan Stux Gallery and David Richard Contemporary. He has also participated in over 40 group exhibitions in the US and internationally, including the Prague Biennale. Davis’ work is included in the Saatchi Collection, Progressive Art Collection and JP Morgan Chase Collection.
CV/BIO
Current Residence:
New York, NY
Education:
1997 B.F.A. Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL
1996 New York Studio Program, AICAD (Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design), New York, NY
Solo Exhibitions:
2010 Works on Paper, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (upcoming - June 5)
Motus Fort, Tokyo, Japan (upcoming - December)
Absence, Ctrl Gallery, Houston, TX (upcoming - June 25)
2008 Ctrl Gallery, Houston, TX
Bucketrider (Andrew Rafacz) Gallery, Chicago, IL
2007 Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2005 Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY
Collages, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2004 Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2003 Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY
2002 Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2001 Stefan Stux Gallery, New York, NY
2000 Stefan Stux Gallery, New York, NY
Group Exhibitions:
2010 (group show), Champion Gallery, Austin, TX (upcoming)
Drrreeeeaaaaammmmmsssssssszzzzz, Motus Fort, Tokyo, Japan
2009 A Dry Run, Charlie Horse, Brooklyn, NY
Re-Accession: For Sale by Owner, FLAG Foundation, New York, NY. Curated by Philae Knight and
Amanda Steck
Thorn Eye, Motus Fort, Tokyo, Japan
2008 Summer 2008, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Taking Candy from a Baby, Brooklyn Fireproof, Brooklyn, NY
2007 Jay Davis, Michael Joo, and Michael Rakowitz for More Art: When Art Goes Back to the Community,
Miami Art Space, Miami, FL
Shipworm and Gribble, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY
Magical Mundane, Bucketrider Gallery, Chicago, IL.
Curated by Dan Kopp
Salon Nouveau, Engholm Engelhorn Gallery, Vienna, Austria. Curated by Jasper Sharp
2006 Out of True, Chatham Building, Miami, FL. Curated by Micaela Giovannotti & Joyce Korotkin
Natural and Unnatural: Imagining Landscape, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, New Jersey.
Palm Beach Collects: Works from the John Morrissey Collection, Armory Art Center, Palm Beach, FL
2005 Terra Non Firma, Howard House Gallery, Seattle, WA
2004 Stay Inside, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Stop and Stor, Luxe Gallery, New York, NY
2003 The Pyramid Scheme, Schopf Gallery on Lake, Chicago, IL
Prague Biennale 1, Veletrzni Palac, Prague, Czech Republic
2002 Everyone Knows This is Nowhere, Kevin Bruk Gallery, Miami, FL
Painting as Paradox, Artists Space, New York
NYC, Momus Gallery, Atlanta, GA
I-Beam, Cynthia Broan Gallery, New York
New York in Texas, New Gallery, Houston, Texas
Jay Davis, Inka Essenhigh, Christian Schumann. Angstrom Gallery, Dallas, Texas
The Dubrow Biennial, Kagan Martos Gallery, New York, NY
20th Anniversary Celebration: Stefan Stux Gallery, New Gallery, Houston, Texas
2001 WestWorld, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY. Curated by Max Henry
Wattage & Friendship, Muller/DeChiara Gallery, Berlin, Germany. Curated by David Hunt
Boxy, Dee/Glasoe Gallery, New York, NY. Organized with Carl Ostendarp
Summer Show 2001, ShoshanaWayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
SuperNature, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX. Curated by Kerry Inman and Patrick Reynolds
Super Imposition, Caren Golden Fine Arts, New York, NY. Curated by David Hunt
2000 Landscape My Ass, Vedanta Gallery, Chicago, IL
Neutopia, Audiello Fine Art, New York, NY
Collector’s Choice, Exit Art, New York, NY
Here and Everywhere: Ruminations on Place, Farrell/Pollack Fine Art Bingo Hall), Curated by
Mark Keffer, Brooklyn, NY
1998 Wrong Place, Right Time, Double Pleasure, New York, NY. Curated by Giovanni Garcia/Fenach,
Bibliography:
2009 Lindsay Pollock, “Glenn Fuhrman’s Flag Foundation Show”, Bloomberg News, June 30 ”Artist Profile -
Jay Davis”, Phillipsartexpert.com, May 6
2008 Julia Ramey, review, “Dan Kopp and Jay Davis - Two Brooklyn artists show off their new works”,
Houston Press, August 14
Douglas Britt, review, “Last chance to catch hot August shows-Dan Kopp and Jay Davis”,
Houston Chronicle, August 15
Takashi Tomita, “New York - Art, Surf, Lifestyle”, Blue, issue 11
Rachel Adams, review, Flavorpill Chicago,
2007 Sharon Mizota, review, Artnews, Summer
Aron Namenwirth, “Democrazy”, Zing Magazine, issue #21
Review, DailyServing.com, March 31
2006 Peter Higgins and Lina Roos, ed., Crossfields Issue 2: Home. Wire Design Ltd.
Dan Bischoff, review of Natural and Unnatural: Imagining Landscape, Star Ledger, September 3
Joao Ribas, “Emerging Collectors: A Profile of John Morrissey”, ArtInfo.com, January 17
Joyce Korotkin, “Jay Davis”, Tema Celeste, January-February
2005 Charlotte Troy ed., Home Sweet Home 102, an anthology, Thames and Hudson Ltd./ D.A.P.
2004 Christopher Knight, review of Stay Inside, “A windowed sort of
claustrophobia”, Los Angeles Times, July 9
Andrea Bellini and Sonia Campagnola, “I Nuovissimi di New York”, Flash Art Italia, June 2004, pp. 83-94
Shana Nys Dambrot, review, Flavorpill LA, issue 55
Holly Myers, review, “A lot going on, hard to sit still”, Los Angeles Times, February 27
2003 Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, “The New Abstractionists”, Art & Auction, July
Merrily Kerr, review, Flash Art (International), March-April
Review, The New Yorker, February 3
Manami Fujimori, “Very New York”, BT (Bijutsu Techo), January
2002 Douglas Fogle, Peter Pakesh, and Lauri Firstenberg, “Curating Painting”, Flash Art (International),
November - December
Maurizio Cattelan, Massimiliano Gioni, and Ali Subotnick, Charley, #02
Amanda Church, “I-Beam at Cynthia Broan”, Flash Art (International), October
Ken Johnson, review of I-Beam, The New York Times, July 12
Mike Daniel, “Three young neo-surrealists at Angstrom”, The Dallas Morning News, May 17
Maurizio Cattelan, Massimiliano Gioni, and Ali Subotnick, Charley, #01
Elisabeth Franck, The Transom, The New York Observer, March 18
Robb Young, “Artistic Defense” Dutch, January - February
Reena Jana, review “Westworld” Artnews, March
“Amnesty International USA fetes new media art” Tema Celeste, March - April
“Art Hangs” Blackbook, Spring
“Amnesty International USA at 40” NY Arts Magazine (International Edition), February
Christopher Chambers, Max”, January Picks, (Westworld) NY Arts Magazine
“Off the Wall” Smock, Winter issue
2001 Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, “Precarious But At Peace”, Dutch, Nov. - Dec.
Ken Johnson, review of “Westworld”, The New York Times, Dec. 14
Sarah Valdez, “Gallery Reviews” (Westworld), Paper, Dec. - Jan.
Robert Curcio, review in Tema Celeste, Nov. - Dec.
Christopher Chambers, “A New Crop of Young American Painters”, Tema Celeste, Nov. - Dec.
Randy Gladman, review in NY Arts Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 10
Review, The New Yorker, October 8
Gina Basha, “Art on the Verge,” review in City, October
Mark Kostabi, review in Shout, September - October
Martha Schwendener, review in Time Out New York, September
Charlie Finch, “The New Season”, Artnet.com, September
Scott Speh, review online, Hot Commodities 9, 16beaver.com
Kelly Klaasmeyer, “The Not-So-Great Outdoors,” review of “SuperNature,” Houston Press, August 16-22
Kim Levin, “ShortList”, review of “Superimposition,” The Village Voice, July 31
Martha Schwendener, NY Critics’s Picks, review of “Superimposition,” July
Holland Cotter, review of “Superimposition,” The New York Times, July 6
Stephanie Cash, review in Art in America, January
Kim Levin, Voice Choices, review of “Neutopia,” Village Voice, January 9
Christopher Bollen, review of “Neutopia,” Time Out New York, January 4-11
2000 Ken Johnson, review of “Neutopia,” The New YorkTimes, December 29
Tim Griffin, “Working the Room”, Smock, November
Mario Naves, review in The New York Observer, May 3
Astra Taylor, review in Review Magazine, April 15