Ben Davis’ work investigates the social experience of architecture by documenting the historic structures that have accommodated cultural rituals for over 150 years in Texas. Davis uses traditional photographic methods as well as contemporary digital technology. This exhibition is presented in conjunction with Houston FotoFest 2016.

His work is included in the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University. He was the recipient of the Priddy Scholarship at the University of North Texas in 2012, and the CVAD Student Project Award Fund in 2013. Davis’ work has been exhibited in venues across the United States including:

Photo Center NW (WA) and The Center for Fine Art Photography (CO). Davis is currently working in conjunction with the Gregg County Historical Association to document antebellum homes in East Texas for a book publication.

Davis was born in Houston, Texas in 1981. In 2007 he moved to Kerrville, Texas to attend Schreiner University where he received a B.A. in Creative Arts. Davis currently lives in Denton, Texas where he graduated from the university of North Texas with an MFA in Photography in May of 2014 and is currently working toward an MSLS (Library Science) in Archival Studies and Imaging Technology. Davis makes frequent excursions to East Texas to document the region’s remaining vernacular buildings and to maintain relationships with friends and family.

Ben Davis “William Garrett Plantation built 1860”

Ben Davis “Fay & Persimmon”

Ben Davis “Fay, Sunday Dress”

Ben Davis “Shawn’s Bible”

Ben Davis “McCauley Farm, built 1830”

Ben Davis

“A Corner of Canaan”
March 5, 2016
Galveston Arts Center
Galveston, TX

FRAMING SPECIFICATIONS AND ADVICE

METRO GALLERY FRAME

Standard Profile: 101
Type: Floating Gallery Frames
Wood and Finish: maple wood frame with pickled white finish
Custom Wood Spacer: 1/2″ wood frame spacer
Custom Wood Strainer: 3/4″ wood frame strainer
Framing Advice: fitting gallery frames

Painted with heavy impasto, Wykes builds his landscapes with a palette knife, introducing rhythmic lines and facets of lively color into his compositions. This contemporary approach to the genre of landscape paintings gives Wykes’ images a unique aesthetic. Rooted strongly in the gesture of drawing, his paintings reveal the energy and diversity of the landscapes to which he has traveled over the past two years. Drawn to quiet, rural locales, Wykes’ new paintings document hinterlands – areas just beyond a coastline or shoreline of a river. In this show, Wykes explores the hinterlands in both Lacken Strand, Mayo, a seaside town in western Ireland, and near his home in Northfield, a small town situated along the Cannon River in southern Minnesota. Of his current paintings, Wykes writes:

I seek to create a balanced dialog between the intellectual and emotional. I paint the geography of where I find myself, in the United States and overseas in Britain and Ireland. These places are eclectic and don’t always have any deep attraction for me, yet there is a bond established through my art-making, which takes place on-site and in the studio. I work with a variety of mediums – oil, acrylic, tempera and collage. However, the goal is always the same: to paint an authentic response to the places I have experienced, and translate that experience from the three-dimensional landscape to the flat surface of my paintings.

Andrew Wykes
“Lacken Strand 2″
acrylic on paper, 2015,
22” x 30”

Andrew Wykes “Lacken Strand 1″ acrylic on paper, 2015, 22” x 30”

Andrew Wykes
“Lacken Strand 10″
Acrylic on canvas, 2015, 40” x 30”

Andrew Wykes
“Hinterlands”
January 23 – February 27, 2016
Groveland Gallery
Minneapolis, MN 

Opening Reception:
Saturday, January 23, 2-5 p.m.

FRAMING SPECIFICATIONS AND ADVICE

METRO GALLERY FRAME

Thin Profile: 102
Type: floating gallery frame
Wood & Finish: poplar wood frame with ebony finish
Purchasing Options: joined wood frame
Custom Wood Spacer: 3/4″ wood frame spacer
Custom Wood Strainer: 1/2″ wood frame strainer
Custom Frame Acrylic: acrylic cut to size
Custom Cut Matboard: 4 ply white museum board cut to size
Custom Frame Backing Board: acid free foamboard cut to size
Framing Advice: fitting gallery frames