FERNBERGER

Fernberger is pleased to present Chorus, a selection of new paintings by the Los Angeles-based artist Phil Davis. Each work in this exhibition reflects a mise-en-scène of the world—particular objects and situations that Davis identifies for their representation of universal tropes of humanity. Through broad themes like romance, tragedy, theater, classicism, genre, and pop culture, he is guided by what he gravitates towards, rather than what he can contextualize. Raised in a Danish household, Davis grew up surrounded by objects that were marked with a language he recognized, but did not speak, inspiring in him a fascination for that which is visualized and signified, rather than translated or defined. He composes images in order to capture a memory that is just out of reach—scenes furnished with a loose symbology of familiar references and collective ideas.

As if leafing through the entries of a children’s encyclopedia, his subject matter—motifs roaming from horseback riding to sad clowns, classical sculpture, skull and crossbones, and illustrations from Danish childrens’ craft books—is preserved in the moment before it takes on more complex significance, when the image can still be characterized by an innocent, and at times misguided, simplification. Though disparate in content, Davis’ compositions are unified by his instinctive, economic hand and subdued palette. Rather than washing his paintbrushes, he lets them migrate between various vessels in his studio where they marinate in thinned-out oil paint. Through this process, each brush is imbued with trace pigments from all of his preceding works, an evolving medley of black, purple, blue, green, red, yellow, brown, gray, and white. His impressionistic brushstrokes harmonize an uncanny chorus of characters—archetypes cast together from Davis’ intuitive predilections.

Referencing his own background in theater, Davis’ tableaux consider the nature of costume and performance—how a performer physically and emotionally assumes a persona—both delicate choreographies between realism and artifice. Rendered in the distilled fashion of a production prop and lit by a stage spotlight, each painting expresses the incomplete representation that is inherent to popular imagery. Though loaded with cliché associations, Davis approaches these tropes without judgment, welcoming a democratic vision that expands the interpretation and fate of each figure—born from his unique observation—but malleable to the imagination of his audience. As an ensemble, these paintings offer an autobiographical, while ineffable, portrait of the artist—a realm where symbols retain their inherent mysteries, and he is able to beckon the bizarre out of the commonplace.

Phil Davis (b. 1988, Pasadena, CA) lives and works in Los Angeles. He received a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2012. His works have been shown internationally in solo and group exhibitions at Shoot the Lobster, New York; Mountain View Mausoleum, Altadena; Night Gallery, Los Angeles; Rachel Uffner, New York; Lower Arroyo Seco Trail, Pasadena; Nara, Japan; and Amager Strandpark, Copenhagen, Denmark, among others.

Phil Davis (b. 1988, Pasadena, CA) lives and works in Los Angeles. He received a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2012. His works have been shown internationally in solo and group exhibitions at Shoot the Lobster, New York; Mountain View Mausoleum, Altadena; Night Gallery, Los Angeles; Rachel Uffner, New York; Lower Arroyo Seco Trail, Pasadena; Nara, Japan; and Amager Strandpark, Copenhagen, Denmark, among others.