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Enjoy the radiance of the casual, yet gripping, series of things surrounding the classically thoughtful reader in Crown Studies.

Maury's still lifes are as clear as cathedral bells. The textures of the reflections in T are as thrilling as a cantata. And the space! The sly nail in the upper right establishes a profundity of space that is truly breathtaking. --Thomas Hoving

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Davis has been painting still-life compositions with buoys since he moved to the maritime of Nova Scotia in 1982. Buoys have held a persistent fascination for him, symbolizing a diversity of possible associations, ranging from a nostalgia for more stable times to the tribulations of abandonment. Still Life with Five Buoys is one of an ongoing series of formal studies where the commonplace, utilitarian buoy is transformed, and its status elevated to a treasured object. No longer merely functional or discarded curios collected along beaches, his buoys are instilled with affection, mood and humanity through a precise and arduous rendering of details and structured balance of forms.

After his one-man show in 1990 at Wunderlich, Davis decided to do a landscape print which resulted in an exhilarating Landmarks. What started out as a six-month project turned into one consuming three years of intensive labor, resulting in five silkscreen prints. In Landmarks Davis created a characteristic tension between a plethora of fine minutia that feeds the eye and a sense of volume that is desolate, isolated and empty.

While Hallway is farly literal, the extreme tilt of the aqua-blue floor is intended to cause a visual pull toward the central dark doorway. Davis feels that the dark doorway is foreboding and that it alludes to his postpartum struggle to get back into painting after the exhausting three years dedicated to producing the series of silkscreens. However dark the mood, it is not bleak; other alternatives are suggested by the light pouring in from an obscured doorway to the right. On another level, this painting is a projection of the artist's fascination with human places devoid of the human figure, and how depictions of such intimate spaces can be charged with a sense of mystery and intrigue. -- Christopher R. Young, Curator
Flint Institute of Arts

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