international drawing annual 6 exhibition-in-print
online resource


Benjy Davies
Gallipolis, OH

University or Rio Grande, Associate Professor

740.441.5950

benjydavies@gmail.com

www.luckymanpress.com

page 71



 

statement

Beginning on March 1, 2008, I have committed one hour of every day to completing a small drawing. These are not sketches or studies meant to evolve into larger works (although a few have). Neither are they practice in some particular style or effect to be used later. Rather, they are pieces of a larger whole, meant to be seen in a formal gallery setting, individually framed.

This project was born of a desire just to make something every day. I teach full time, and have four young children. It is very difficult to get long stretches of time in the studio, but I can manage to carve one hour out of each day to draw, so that is what I have done. By limiting myself to a simple medium, and a small scale, the focus is on the images and marks, rather than technique or media.

I believe there is something magical, and perhaps a little frightening in the act of drawing. It allows the artist to see into areas of the brain that are completely unknown to the self-aware thought process. I am frequently surprised by my drawings‚ subject matter, content, and style. In the process of creating this body of work, it has become increasingly clear to me that the part of our mind that we control is only a small part of who we are.

Taken as a whole, the work seems to be completing a long-term, narrative self-portrait of sorts-half diary, half satire, and half illustration. Like the ManBearPig that frightened Al Gore in South Park, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It's three halves.

The entire series may be viewed online at http://www.luckymanpress.com/art/pages/daily_drawings/index.html Images are updated monthly.

 

bio

born:1968, Columbus, Ohio, United States


education:

Ohio University, MFA, 2000
Ohio State University, BFA, 1995


selected awards/honors

Edwin Jones Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Rio Grande, 2010
Madog Fellowship for Welsh Studies, University of Rio Grande, 2008


selected publications

Mail Me Something, Art House Co-op, Brooklyn, NY, 2010
Black and White magazine, Birmingham, Alabama, 2001


selected solo or two-person exhibits

Narrative and Allegory (with Kevin Lyles), Parkersburg Art Center, Parkersburg, WV, 2011
Portraits (solo), 2009, Ohio University Southern Galleries, Ironton, OH


selected group shows

33rd Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition, Hueser Art Center, Peoria, IL, 2011
20/20 Vision, Fire House Gallery, Louisville, GA, 2011
9x12, Ferencvarosi Pince Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, 2011
Brand/Re-Brand Reactions, Crane Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 2010



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