Museum of Mystery: A Thirty-Year Bannerline
Monday, October 5 through Tuesday, November 17
- Reception: Thursday, October 15, 6–8 pm, with gallery talk at 7 pm
- Music by the Parkland College Guitar Ensemble
- Additional Artist Lecture: Tuesday, November 3, 1 pm, room D244, Parkland College
Mr. Davies is highly influenced by his experience of traveling with circuses and carnivals in the 1970s. His current retrospective focuses on his series of bannerline paintings.
"Bannerline" refers to the style of artwork influenced by the special form of advertising in which banners are hung on a clothesline that can be easily put up and taken down for a traveling show. This style has allowed him to express his mysterious stories through a personal visual language. In his response to the loose canvas format, he thinks of signage commonly associated with carnival attractions, as well as fraternal lodge rituals and medieval religious pilgrimages. The artist thus relates life experience as a moral drama, played out in a public forum.
A native of Champaign, Mr. Davies is an accomplished artist with 25+ years of work seen throughout the country. His commissions have been on display at the Art Institute of Chicago as well as the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois, and in many other collections. His murals grace the walls of local landmarks including the Illini Union, the Urbana Free Library, the Market Place Mall, and the Centennial High School Library.
Mr. Davies is also a local educator, curator, and lecturer. He is in the process of curating an upcoming exhibition at the Krannert Art Museum titled "Stranger in Paradise: The Works of Reverend Howard Finster" opening January 29 and runs through March 28, 2010. He will also be a guest lecturer at Parkland Art Gallery's 14th annual high school seminar on November 13. This seminar invites all 35 high schools in district 505 to attend, including hands‑on workshops, an art-related video, and tours of the gallery and art facilities. Mr. Davies has been part of the Illinois Arts Council's arts in education program since 1985.
image: grotto of broken dreams, acrylic on canvas, 60" x 72"