Anna U Davis

Artist Statement – Anna U Davis

Kunst tjener et dobbelt formål for mig. Det er et middel til at udtrykke mine sociopolitiske synspunkter og så vel som en mestringsmekanisme. Som lille skabte jeg billeder for at håndtere mine følelser, og som voksen hjælper min kunstpraksis mig med at håndtere de langsigtede bivirkninger af mine brystkræftbehandlinger.

Tidligt i min udvikling som kunstner besluttede jeg mig for at nedbryde den menneskelige form til grundlæggende geometriske former og fokusere på at udtrykke mine figurers følelser gennem abstrakte, overdrevne placeringer af deres ansigtstræk og kropsdele. Mine karakteristiske grå Frocasian-figurer er inspireret af mit blandede ægteskab. Min mand blev født af en svensk mor og en afroamerikansk far i Lund i Sverige, og selvom vi begge voksede op i den samme by og gik i den samme skole, har vores livserfaringer været meget forskellige på grund af vores hudfarve.

I samfundet er der stadig lang vej til at blive inkluderende, lige og værdsætte vores mangfoldighed og anerkende vores fælles menneskelighed. Det er derfor, jeg har brugt det meste af min karriere på at skabe arbejder, der undersøger spørgsmål om social retfærdighed, primært med fokus på kønsrelationer. Min første kunstnerkærlighed var den frygtløse Frida Kahlo og hendes uforbeholdne historiefortælling, og hvordan hun udfordrede sociale normer. Jeg blev også forelsket i de dristige sorte konturer i Keith Harings værker, de slående collager af Romare Bearden og de organiske strukturer af Antoni Gaudí.

Alle disse kunstnere har fungeret som inspiration for udviklingen af min egen kunstneriske stil, hvor jeg kombinerer flere medier på lærred, herunder akrylmaling, håndskåret papircollage, tuschtegning, pimpsten og applikerede tekstiler.

CV

ANNA U DAVIS b. 1975, Lund, Sweden
Lives and works in Washington DC

GRANTS / AWARDS / RESIDENCIES
2021, 2015
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York, NY
2020
Show award winner – SHIFT Online Exhibition, McLean Projects for the Arts, McLean, VA, curated by Henry L. Thaggert
2022-2021, 2019
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Projects Events and Festivals (Individuals,) Washington, DC
2022-2013, 2011
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program (Individuals,) Washington, DC
2013
Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Emergency Assistance Grant, New York, NY
2011
Residency at Wip Gallery at Artisphere, Arlington, VA

SELECTED SOLO AND DUO EXHIBITIONS
2023
Reality Check, Davis Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark (forthcoming fall)
2022
Reality Check, IA&A at Hillyer, Washington DC
2021
Reality Check, Swedish American Museum, Chicago, IL
2019
Take it Personal -Anna U Davis and Ola Kalnins, Bredgade Kunsthandel, Copenhagen, Denmark (Duo)
2018
Frocasian: Moving Beyond Social Constructs, Artist Proof, Washington DC
Damsels in Distress, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD
2017 – 2018
Witnesses, House of Sweden (Embassy of Sweden), Washington DC
2016
Anna U Davis – Going Big @ Dacha, Dacha Loft, Washington DC
2012
Pop-up, Gallery at Bloombars, Washington, DC
2011
A Work in Progress, Wip Gallery at Artisphere, Arlington, VA
2010
The Dance before the Kill, Long View Gallery, Washington, DC
2009
Bull’s-Eye, Long View Gallery, Washington, DC
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
Invasion, IA&A at Hillyer, Washington DC
Fragile Beauty, I Street Galleries, Washington DC, curated by Elizabeth Ashe, Claude Elliott, Zsudayka Nzinga and Jarvis Grant (forthcoming)
Body Language: Contemporary Approaches to Figuration, Brentwood Art Exchange, Brentwood, MD, curated by Andrea Limauro (forthcoming)
Women of the Pandemic, Katara, Building 47, Gallery 2, Doha, Qatar
2021
Creativity in Quarantine: Women of the Pandemic, Qatar America Institute for Culture, Washington DC
Summer show, Oil and Pigments, Washington DC
Creativity in Quarantine: Women of the Pandemic, Qatar America Institute for Culture, Washington DC – Katara, Doha, Qatar, online
2020
Latela Curatorial x Artsy: Women in the Arts ~ Materiality – In the Flesh, Washington DC
SHIFT Online Exhibition, McLean Projects for the Arts, McLean, VA, curated by Henry L. Thaggert
2019
Building Bridges: The Politics of Love, Identity and Race II, Galeria Carmen Montilla, 13th Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba, Curators Myrtis Bedolla and Ana Joa
Where Have We Been, Center for the Arts Gallery, Towson University, Towson, MD, curated by Dr Erin Lehman and Dr. J. Susan Isaacs
2018
More or Less, Hemphill, Washington DC
2017
Oh Say, Can You See? Emigre Artist In America, Charles Krause / Reporting Fine Art, Washington DC
One Year Later, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Hyattsville, MD
2016
Consumption: Food as Paradox, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD
2015
These Mirrors Are Not Boxes, VisArts, Rockville, MD, curated by Kayleigh N. Bryant-Greenwell
2014
Emergence: International Artist to Watch, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD, curated by Sharon Burton, Robert Devereux, Deana Haggag, and Makgati Molebatsi
Untitled, Gallery OneTwentyEight, New York, NY
2013
Holiday Popsicle, Gallery OneTwentyEight, New York, NY, curated by Kazuko Miyamoto
Crowns, The Fridge, Washington, DC, curated by Zoma Wallace
Fear Strikes Back, Fine Art Gallery, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, curated by Helen Fredericks
The Newtown Projects: A Call to Arms, Charles Krause/ Reporting Fine Art, Washington, DC
2012
Zeitgeist III: Too Much Information, District of Columbia Art Center, Washington, DC
2010
Synergy, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC=
Party Crashers: Comic Book Culture Invades the Art World, Terrace Gallery at Artisphere, Arlington, VA, curated by Cynthia Connolly
SELECTED PRIVATE AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Permanent Collection, DC Government Art Bank, Washington, DC
Dacha Loft, Washington, DC
American Humanistic Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership, Washington, DC
GCH Endowment to Promote Quality Early Childhood Education, Washington, DC
Dorothy Lichtenstein Private Collection, Captiva (FL) / Southampton (NY) / New York (NY)
David Lichtenstein and Jennifer Moore, Berkeley (CA)