The expansive and illuminating exhibition at 203 Fine Art includes works from the artist's studio which are on view to the public for the first time.
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What You Need to Know: During the 1960s, artist Ronald Davis became known for his shaped canvases and polyester resin works that explored questions of optics, perspective, and illusion through the visual language of hard edge abstraction. Though many today might not know Davis’s name, the artist’s practice was influential for decades on the West Coast art scene.
Now, the exhibition “Seven Decades” at 203 Fine Art in Taos, New Mexico, traces Davis’s work, from the celebrated 1965 sculpture Lemon Yellow, a part of the “Dodecagon” series that first propelled him to fame, to his most recent paintings from the past few years.
Ronald Davis in his studio, 2021.
Why We Like It: We are witness to Davis’s continually reinventive and technologically experimental career with the gallery providing premier examples from various stages of his career—including several works from his studio on view to the public for the first time. Davis’s “Snapline” series of paintings from the 1970s create a three-dimensional perspective on a two-dimensional surface, echoing the illusionistic techniques that recur throughout his career. In the 1980s, Davis began using 3D rendering programs. In the 1990s, he moved to Taos and commenced his “Wax” series of shaped encaustic paintings on wood. For the past 20 years, the artist has experimented with a variety of industrial materials, including PVC with acrylic, as well as computer-generated renderings that are heat-fused on aluminum.
What the Gallery Says: “The exhibition celebrates Davis’s illustrious and ongoing career by featuring a wide range of work from the artist’s oeuvre. Selected from the artist’s studio, the exhibition includes artwork which has never been exhibited, as well as legacy works such as the keystone “Dodecagon” series, many of which are in the permanent collections of major museums, emphasizing Davis’s important contribution to the American art scene. Through his explorations of space, color, time and form, and ongoing adoption of new technologies, Ronald Davis continues to enrich the art world with his innovative techniques and concepts”
Ronald Davis, Lemon Yellow (1965). Courtesy of 203 Fine Art.
Ronald Davis, Untitled Block I (2021). Courtesy of 203 Fine Art.
Ronald Davis, Tri-Lift Slabs (1987). Courtesy of 203 Fine Art.
Ronald Davis, Mazzochio Too (2019). Courtesy of 203 Fine Art.
Ronald Davis, Glorious Glass Dodecagon (2019). Courtesy of 203 Fine Art.
Ronald Davis, Two and One-Half Blocks (1974). Courtesy of 203 Fine Art.
