“Dark Illumination” features a body of work that examines the significance of shadows in our sensory experience.
从2月开始. 9, OXY ARTS will showcase the work of Kenturah 戴维斯 ’02, 2022-23 Wanlass Artist in Residence. The display marks the 10th year of the residency 和 the first OXY ARTS solo 展览 of an alum, as well as 戴维斯’ own first solo institutional 展览 in 洛杉矶.
In “Dark Illumination,” 戴维斯 combines drawing, 摄影, printmaking 和 sculpture to explore shadows 和 light, while also interweaving ideas rooted in philosophy, 物理, literature 和 anthropology.
戴维斯, who majored in 艺术 history 和 visual 艺术s, often integrates text 和 portraiture to explore themes such as language 和 perception.
“I've been working with relief surfaces, pressing texts into paper,n doing rubbings that at once renders the figure 和 also highlights, or makes more visible, text that's embedded in the paper,她说。. “为了这个节目, I’m really excited to resolve something I've been trying to work on for the past few years.”
As p艺术 of her OXY ARTS residency, 戴维斯 also taught a fall course inspired by Japanese author Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s essay, “In Praise of Shadows.”
“It's been a great experience developing coursework of my own, 和 then developing the show that extends from the class that I taught,她说。. “I’m excited about it because I felt some freedom in how to approach this show that I think is quite different from what I've done so far through more conventional commercial gallery 展览s.”
戴维斯, who grew up in nearby Altadena, was often surrounded by 洛杉矶' Black 艺术ists via her father, 科妮戴维斯, a TV 和 film set painter. During her time at Oxy, she played volleyball, took printmaking classes with Professor Linda Lyke 和 honed her early interest in how language shapes lives.
毕业后, 戴维斯 balanced work, 艺术, 和 a move to Accra, Ghana—a city she describes as a vibrant, vivid metropolis that felt like another home. She eventually returned to the United States to earn her MFA from Yale School of Art. Now, she divides her time between Highl和 Park 和 Accra.
Recently, her first permanent public 艺术 project, “特种”, 开在 Downtown Inglewood Metro station; a solo booth of her new works appeared at Frieze London 2022; 和 the Orange County Museum of Art featured her 艺术 as p艺术 of their “California Biennial 2022: Pacific Gold” 展览. Her portrait of filmmaker Ava DuVernay was recently highlighted in the Smithsonian’s “Portrait of a Nation: 2022 Honorees.”
OXY ART’s year-long Wanlass Artist in Residence program is the only college residency in the country that invites 艺术ists to develop an original curriculum based on their practice 和 interests.
“This residency is the principal 展览 for our annual programming cycle at OXY ARTS, allowing the opportunity for our students 和 community to connect with groundbreaking 和 visionary 艺术ists,” says Meldia Yesayan, director of OXY ARTS. “It's truly inspiring to see an 艺术ist have the freedom to conceive, create 和 exp和 their practice in this way. Providing access 和 institutional resources to these L.A. based 艺术ists 和 allowing them the freedom to experiment is foundational to our mission at OXY ARTS.”
“Kenturah 戴维斯: Dark Illumination” will be on view from Feb. 9 to April 29, 2023, with an opening-day reception 下午6点.m. 和 additional events throughout the spring.
