Spotlight

Spotlight artist Rob Davis

Championed by Angel Otero
The Wick Culture - Pool by Rob Davis
Above  Pool by Rob Davis
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ONES TO
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The Wick Culture - Rob Davis by Greg Carideo
Above  Rob Davis by Greg Carideo
Interview
Rob Davis
Photography
Greg Carideo
20 November 2024
Interview
Rob Davis
Photography
Greg Carideo
20 November 2024
Rob Davis’ small scale, intimate renderings of domestic spaces in oil were a major draw at Frieze London this year, where the New York-based painter could be found in the Artist-to-artist section, presented by Broadway Gallery – where Davis presented a solo exhibition earlier this year. Rashid Johnson chose Davis for what he referred to as a “robust and sincere” practice – built steadily over twenty-five years. Viewers may initially be awestruck by Davis’ flawless technique, photorealistic paintings that fool the eye and floor you when you realize they are executed by hand. Then there’s the cinematic narratives implied in the images: devoid of figures “ want the objects and scenes to feel as if something has, did or is going to happen,” Davis explains.
Davis’ champion for The Wick is artist Angel Otero. He told The Wick: “Rob has been a dear friend of mine for nearly twenty years, and we’ve continuously championed each other and our work. His support meant the world to me very early on in my career, and to this day, he remains a steadfast presence in my life and practice. Thanks to his extensive knowledge of fabrication, he has been a vehicle of support in my development, instilling the confidence I needed to bring my ideas to life. His paintings have always moved me—they’re both a source of inspiration and something I feel deeply connected to.”

The details in Davis’ works reveal a predilection for 1970s and 1980s domestic and everyday objects – the era of the artist’s childhood – a pastel blue telephone, a pair of woven lawn chairs, a picnic table laid with a gingham cloth or a crocheted quilt, crumpled on a bed. Davis is drawn these things, he says, for their spark of “a memory of people and places from my past.” Working from photographs, Davis makes a study in watercolour before beginning to work in oil, suffusing other ambiental references to the lines of Joan Didion, Rick Bragg and S.A. Crosby to name a few. “If you read the essay ” On Keeping A Notebook” in Didion’s ” Slouching Towards Bethlehem” – that essay is essentially my artist statement,” Davis adds.

Stopping short of nostalgia, these eerie, spectral scenes slowly reveal themselves – prompting the viewer to consider the fraught relationship between image, reproduction and memory. We are enthralled.

About the champion

The Wick Culture - Angel Otero by Javier Romero

Angel Otero was born in 1981 in Santurce, Puerto Rico, where he resided until moving to Chicago in 2004. He currently splits his time between Puerto Rico and New York. In 2009, Otero was included in the exhibition ‘Constellations’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, shortly after receiving his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. With a practice that spans painting, collage, and sculpture, Otero experiments with innovative techniques to create abstract works about memory, identity, and his lived experiences. Otero is best known for his Oil Skin works, where he applies oil paint onto glass and peels them off to create layers that he reassembles into new images. His works are included in the collections of the DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, Istanbul Modern, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, among other institutions.

“His paintings have always moved me—they’re both a source of inspiration and something I feel deeply connected to.”

Angel Otero

Place of Birth

Norfolk, Virginia, USA

Education

The School of The Art Institute Chicago, 1997

Awards, Accolades

Artadia Award, 2004, 2006

Current exhibitions

Sun Valley Art Museum; Frieze London

Spiritual guides, Mentors

My Mom, Angel Otero, Kris Andrews, Rashid Johnson

Advice

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