bio

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Jon Davis graduated in 1992 from the University of Pittsburgh.  His selected solo exhibitions include: 2009 at Dale Nally Gallery, Miami Fl; 2008 at the Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach FL. In 2006 Jon also exhibited at Damien B Art Gallery, Art Basel, Miami FL; the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, Jacksonville FL; Damien B Art Gallery, Miami FL.

In 2004 he showed his full body of work at Carousel Art Space; Art Basel, Miami FL; Miami Beach Cinematheque, Art Basel, Miami Beach FL. In 2003 he soloed at Damien B Art Gallery, Miami FL; in 2002 at Kracer Art, Miami, FL; with his first solo in 1998 at The Pentagon Gallery, Cleveland OH.

Jon’s Group Exhibitions, include 2008 at Madison National Juried Show, Madison GA; 2006 at Art Center South Florida, Miami Beach FL; 2004 at Octopus Gallery, Miami FL; and his first group show at The Bake House Art Complex, Miami FL in 2003.

He works and lives in Miami with his family.

statement

_My art plays with the juxtaposition of images that have no previous relationship. By doing this I change the story line in the imagery and create an alternative narrative. I work with two types of images:  vintage photographs and classic masterpieces that are familiar.

I use common objects to engage the audience; recognizable images, which invite them into the work rather than just a glance from a distance. My art beckons viewers to explore the dissected individual images that I have woven together behind multiple layers of glass.

The use of optical lenses and lighting techniques enables me to highlight aspects of the work I want to exaggerate while hiding other features. This technique also gives my work dimensions that, depending on the different angles, give new perspectives, pushing the viewer to move around the piece in a voyeuristic fashion.

Through a thorough interaction with the work viewers discover little nuances in each piece and create their own story from what is being played out by their own engagement.

By using master in art history blended with found vintage photographs, I am compressing time into a small theatrical environment mounted on the wall. I want to give form to my theory that all art is built upon some art that has preceded it.

The masterpieces I use represent a moment when art was at a peak; a time of explosion in techniques and ideas. In contrast, the vintage photos represent the birth and innocence of the photographic image, when it was still being scrutinized as a valid medium of expression.

I see thematic and technical connections between early photographs and these paintings that predate them by 200-300 years but eventually forged a symbiotic relationship, one that I capture and interpret.  And where master painters influenced incipient photographers, modern and contemporary art in turn has been influenced by photography.

By connecting early photos to art masterpieces for new arrangements and taking into account the various movements that have happened over the past century and influenced my life as an artist, from Dada and Cubism to the combines of Rauschenberg and the paintings of Bacon, I include subtle gestures toward each of them.