- glencdavies@yahoo.com
- https://www.glencdavies.com/
Glen C. Davies
Glen C. Davies
ARTIST BIO
Glen Davies attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the late 1960’s. After traveling with the circus as a show painter, Davies worked for a short time as a billboard artist and sign painter, eventually establishing a mural painting business. Since receiving an MFA in painting from the University of Illinois, Davies has divided his time between studio pursuits and various alternative employments including sideshow banner artist, professional muralist, curator, and educator.
His work has been represented by Phyllis Kind Gallery and Aron Packer Gallery in Chicago and La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles. The works reside in many public and private collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, Rockford Art Museum, Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, Georgia Museum of Art, John Micheal Kohler Art Center, Illinois State Museum, and the Roger Brown Study Collection.
ARTIST STATEMENT
The narrative element of art has always been essential to my creative process. The paintings, sculptures, and collages in this exhibition question the mysteries that I see in life and visually explore my search for answers. The act of creating helps me forge a relationship between the physical act and the intellectual and spiritual processes I utilize during the making of a new work.
My goal is to make sense of the world by breaking it down into a visual language. I have always felt an obligation to interpret life experience as moral drama, playing out in a public forum. I try to communicate ideas and open minds to choices and new ways of facing issues in life. Addressing these issues from a personal perspective provides a more worldly application by placing them in a metaphorical or allegorical setting. The titles often refer to a colloquial phrase or proverb employed as a clue to unlock the riddle of the work. Overshadowing most other considerations is my attempt to reveal a “moment of mystery.” It remains an essential element in my artistic endeavors and relates to the sense of awe and intrigue that lies in my earliest memories. Certain moments coalesce to form an inspired realization of life’s mysteries.
Through symmetry, embellishment, and context I pursue this suspended moment and attempt to recreate it. Like warning signs, I want the work to confront the viewer. By creating a dialogue, I invite interpretation and encourage viewers to stop, reflect, assess a point in their lives and proceed with caution or guarded optimism.
The works being shown for Boneyard 2026 include banner paintings, collages, and found object assemblage sculptures. The sculptural works transform found objects and other materials into magical towers, puppet theaters, and mythical whirligigs. The collages are comprised of found images and scraps of 19th century chromolithograph prints. These items, combined with drawing and paint, become portraits and scenarios steeped in storytelling and myth.
