As a discipline, I work in series, that is, I explore a range of possibilities inherent in a given theme, medium or technique before moving on to something new. Sticking with this approach has enabled me to produce distinct bodies of related works.

— Alonzo Davis

With a focus on works made on or with paper, this solo exhibit at Pyramid Atlantic proves the truth of the above artist’s statement.  Not only is it made evident that Davis has been working in series since the 1970s, but the show also reveals his commitment to the kind of thinking that it implies.  This has been the underlying thread linking his nearly five decade career, the baseline of a clear trajectory that connects him to many older artists, and to more contemporary ones like Jasper Johns who also saw the value of working in this way.

Davis completed an undergraduate degree at Pepperdine College, and subsequently earned his MFA in Printmaking and Design at the Otis Art Institute.  Influenced by artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Johns, Davis soon began to experiment on his own.  At the suggestion of Charles White, artist and former professor at Otis, Davis began to produce prints and paintings in series.  In his statement to this show he says that although he has “worked in many mediums, paper has always found a way to introduce and reintroduce itself” into his three-dimensional mixed media works about which I have written previously in this magazine.[1]  The ease of working on and with paper has itself been a creative stimulus and enabled Davis to continue to work through a series until “the thought has been exhausted.”[2]

Alonzo Davis, Pyramid Series (Gold), monoprint, 1978. Photo courtesy of the artist.

The earliest works in the exhibit are on the long wall in front of the staircase up to the Gallery floor.  These are prints and monoprints from the late 1970s.  Two monoprints from the Pyramid series of 1978 show how Davis was combining abstract forms with figuration in works that demand a little time to unearth their references.  In Pyramid Series (Gold) we can see the pyramids, as in ancient Egyptian ones, poking out behind a pair of translucent gold triangles.  Striding to the left, the dark reddish form under these begins to turn into an Egyptian king figure: face with crown, lower body and legs all seen in profile as was the strict convention—both elegant and brilliant.

Alonzo Davis, Earthscape/Mental Space Series (#7), monoprint, 11” x 22”, 1979.  Photo John Woo, courtesy Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.

Similarly, #7 from the Earthscape/Mental Space Series of the following year features a form that looks like transferred wood, hide or stone, inscribed with pictograph symbols.  These seem to allude to the prehistory of both human beings and of art.  A crescent moon is impressed into the thick cream paper used for these works.

Alonzo Davis, Crescent Eclipse Over Memphis, silkscreen print, 22” x 16”, 1980.  Photo John Woo.  Courtesy of Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.

The 1980s saw the development of a few series that involved a woven look.  Related to it is a silkscreen print in the show titled Crescent Eclipse Over Memphis of 1980, perhaps one of the earliest images of this type.  In retrospect, the layering of the forms, and their translucent colors seem to predict a number of later works such as the small format Corona series of 2020 which is richly represented in this show with ten examples.

Alonzo Davis, Corona Series #8, mixed media collage on paper, 4” x 6”, 2020.  Photo courtesy of Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.

Within the very small field and the seemingly random collage of ripped and cut paper, an order emerges that includes tiny symbols and the painted v-pattern that appears in many later works.  The crescent shape is also evident made with dots around a circle.  Other works from the early 2000s include the Washington Bridge NYC series represented in this show with three examples.  In these the crescent is seen as a yellow stroke against repeated rows of purple v’s that conjure the expanse of the bridge and as well as Chinese or Japanese script.

Alonzo Davis, Washington Bridge NYC #1, mixed media on paper, 30” x 22”, 2008.  Photo courtesy of Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.

The tragic murder of George Floyd in the spring of 2020 and the widespread protest that followed it gave impetus to Davis’ very extensive series Do We All Need to Wear One?  There are many examples from the multiple sub-series of this here. All of them feature the black form of a ballistic vest and targets or X’s on them on small format fields.  One gets the feeling that their repetitive creation, one after the other, reflects the artist’s frustration with the impunity with which this murder and too many others have been committed by police against African Americans in this country.

Alonzo Davis, Do We All Need to Wear One Series A5, mixed media with manipulated photo of ballistic vest, rubber stamp, wax on watercolor paper, 6” x 4”, 2020. Photo courtesy of Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.

The series was actually preceded in 2019 by an artist’s book titled A Reflection on Current Social Justice Issues (2016-2019).  An edition of 5, one of which is in the exhibit, was made possible through The Denbo Fellowship awarded annually by Pyramid Atlantic.  It features a series of pages from the series Targeted in the USA, the stimulus for which was the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.  Unfortunately, despite the protests and the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement in these years, these incidents continued and continue to happen.

Alonzo Davis, Targeted in the USA, mixed media on handmade paper, 11” x 8”, 2019.  Photo courtesy of Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.

A group of studies for Davis’s three-dimensional Navigation and Migrant series from 2017 show the meticulous development of ideas for individual constructions within the larger series, many of which were in the exhibition Nomad of 2019 that included boat forms and other constructions made with bamboo and light elements[3]

 

Alonzo Davis, Study for Navigation Series.04, mixed media on paper, 11” x 8.5”, 2017. Photo courtesy of Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.

These studies were made on pages of lined paper, apparently from a standard pad, on which notes had already been made about totally unrelated things.  In this way, there are layers of paint and stamps, and drawings of various boats and canoes covering the writing which can just be perceived as though “under water”.

Davis has been a world traveler and cultural traditions, patterns and motifs from the many parts of the USA and the world where he has spent time have been referenced in his work over the years.  He is fascinated by the way that postage stamps and rubber stamp imprints bring images of faraway places to mind, and he uses them frequently in works on paper.  The exhibit includes a suite of examples from a series titled Meditations on Traveling, again in the tiny 4”x6” format, containing many of these elements.

Alonzo Davis, Study for Power Poles.02, mixed media on paper, 11” x 8.5”, 2016.  Photo courtesy of Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.

As early as 2005, Davis was making series of what he calls Power Poles.  These are basically poles of bamboo that are painted and/or collaged with various patterns and colors.  They were inspired by the artist’s experience in Africa where he witnessed a ritual ceremony during which poles like these were employed.  A few of these are in the exhibit, but I was drawn to a study for them on the wall behind.  Study for Power Poles.02 (2016), done with mixed media on brown paper, shows the poles highlighted in white.  They are arranged in a crisscross pattern against an abstract field.  A small moon-like form is behind one inscribed with the word “way” that is repeated below.  Interestingly, the drawing could also have been a study for one of the large Navigation series reliefs.  The bamboo of both kinds of works alludes to travel and movement, a “way” in both cases.  This theme was also suggested in the exhibit’s title.  Errantry alludes to a wandering in search of honor, like a knight errant, a sacred duty to be fulfilled in the journey itself.  This has been Alonzo Davis’s “way”.

ERRANTRY: Work by Alonzo Davis, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, 4318 Gallatin St., Hyattsville, MD 20781, September 7 – October 6, 2024.  Hours: Wed-Thurs 10 AM – 8 PM; Fri-Sun 10 AM – 6 PM; closed Mon and Tues.  https://pyramidatlanticartcenter.org

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 [1] Nomad: The Art of Alonzo Davis, East City Art, April 15, 2019; 20 Years in Maryland: Alonzo Davis at BlackRock Center for the Arts, East City Art, August 12, 2022.

[2] Alonzo Davis recalling Charles White’s advice.

[3] See n. 1 above.  The exhibit was at Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria, VA.