Opening Reception: Thursday, October 6, from 5:30 to 7:30pm.
Dolby Chadwick Gallery is pleased to announce Wilderness, an exhibition of new paintings by Kai Samuels-Davis. The title is suggestive of the space captured in these works which include portraits, landscapes and still lifes. The majority of paintings included depict cropped, enlarged portraits arrived at through the application of a mark-making strategy employing repetition and layering of paint so that the figures are simultaneously familiar and mysterious. The solitary forms, of which the head and upper torso are visible, emerge from a vast darkness into a warm light, or vice versa, while others come forth from a solid color field. Whether a literal narrative of someone alone in the wild, or a metaphorical “wilderness” whereas the figure is alone with his or her own thoughts and feelings—the title of the exhibition alludes to both a physical and psychological space not unlike the solitude of an artist painting in his studio.
Each painting begins by working from either personal or found photographs, sometimes utilizing multiple images of the same figure from varied angles. Samuels-Davis then filters these through studio processes such as mark-making created with non-traditional painting instruments. The specific person in the reference photographs is not relevant as their likeness gets painted away and he responds to the painting itself. The tactile, physicality of the paint, as it is manipulated by his tools and scrapers, carries the potential for evoking a multitude of perceptions: calm, moody, light and darkness, movement and stillness. Rather than portraying a likeness of a specific subject, they become portrayals of psychological states of both his own, as well as ones universal to all of us. The build-up, breakdown and distortions, as the representational gets abstracted, emulate the transformation of these mental states, mirroring the human experience.
Samuels-Davis’ use of repetitive mark-making, and images of multiple figures or poses, allows for a multiplicity of faces layered on a single canvas. Because he isn’t painting a specific moment, this layering denotes a compression of time where several quiet moments, poses, and slow movements take place simultaneously. The sitter is transformative, at once both male and female, a self-portrait as well as a portrait of the viewer.
Although Kai Samuels-Davis received an MFA in film in 2006, he continued to seriously pursue painting. However, some influences from film school remain as cinematic qualities to his process and imagery. For example, the images feel like fragments of a larger framework. To Samuels-Davis, each painting is as if “you pressed pause while watching a movie. They’re not illustrations of one idea, instead they’re abstract characters where things have come before and things will come after.” However, contrary to most films where each scene adds up to an overarching storyline, Samuels-Davis’ paintings are slow arrivals and discoveries rather than predetermined narratives.
In his painting titled, The Wilderness (2016), a somber, androgynous figure emerges calmly through a flurry of spackled marks which frame the face. The marks are quick and choppy and feel like they were layered with a palette knife or scraping tool rather than a brush. The background is a rich black which creeps up into the face along the sides where the marks fracture and abstract the head most. In contrast, the front of the face, painted with golden yellows and crimsons suggests a warm candlelight, and emits a stillness. Here, the painted marks soften and the form appears less abstracted. For this piece, Samuels-Davis observes that “there was no intent with the color or lighting, but afterwards upon viewing it, it felt like someone lost in thought in front of a fire in the woods—it could be a campfire or they could have just burned down a cabin—all of a sudden the color and light quality made sense.” The open-ended nature of the paint application and use of distortions invites the viewer to come to his or her own conclusions, supplanting their own narratives and psychological interjections.
Kai Samuels-Davis was born in Catskill, NY in 1980. He earned his BA in 2002 from the State University New York, Purchase, followed by his MFA in 2006 from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. He has exhibited across the United States, United Kingdom, and France. This will be his second solo exhibition at the Dolby Chadwick Gallery.
Check gallery website for hours and additional info
