(NEWARK, NJ) -- Akwaaba Gallery presents Victor Davson’s solo exhibition of panoramic landscapes, “In Full Bloom,” from February 12 through March 26, 2022. These lush large-scale paintings are a departure for Davson, who is more well-known for work with socio-political overtones, including references to his Guyanese Caribbean cultural heritage.
But the solitude and confinement of pandemic life led Davson to look more closely at his surroundings at home on the first ridge of the Watchung Mountains in West Orange, New Jersey. “In Full Bloom” depicts trees and blossoms in neighborhood gardens and along the Lenape Trail, where Davson began walking more often with his wife and occasional collaborator, painter Cicely Cottingham.
“I was suddenly aware of how beautiful the landscape on my side of the mountain was,’’ Davson said.
The first group of paintings were made in August of 2020, when Davson had more time to spend in his studio. “I began working continuously on making my own art in a way that I wasn’t able to do in a long time,’’ he said. “Being at home because of COVID afforded that opportunity.’’
Davson received a BFA from Pratt Institute in 1980 and has exhibited widely throughout the northeast United States and in Great Britain, France, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. His work is in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba, National Collection of Fine Arts, Guyana, Newark Museum of Art, Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey State Museum, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, and Morris Museum.
In 1983, he co-founded Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art in Newark to support artists outside the mainstream. It became the city’s most influential gallery, designated a Major Arts Organization by New Jersey's State Council on the Arts before it closed in 2018.
Davson’s Aljira co-founder, artist and writer Carl Hazlewood, described the landscapes of “In Full Bloom” as his most personal work to date. “We should probably think of them as Victor Davson’s vulnerable response as a human being to our distressed world. These works open up wide—blooming—in accordance with burgeoning nature, pure and stable against a background of existential chaos,’’ he wrote.
At first, Davson was “uncomfortable” painting landscapes after years of producing work that explored themes of race, gender, and Colonialism. “I came to the conclusion that I’m concerned with other things, things apart from my race…I also respond to beauty and to the environment around me.”
The exhibit will have an opening reception at Akwaaba Gallery in Newark on February 12 from 3:00pm to 8:00pm.
Akwaaba Gallery is located at 509 S. Orange Avenue in Newark, New Jersey. It opened on February 15, 2019. Akwaaba Gallery is a hidden Newark gem located in the historic Fairmont neighborhood. The gallery features diverse and eclectic contemporary works of art in various mediums. Akwaaba's mission is to engage the community and public with exhibitions featuring emerging local, regional, national and international artists.
IMAGES: (TOP) Victor Davson "Ridge" 2021 Acrylic on canvas 96x120-in (MIDDLE) Victor Davson "Green-House" 2021 Acrylic on canvas 75x92-in (BOTTOM) Victor Davson "Bloom" 2022 Acrylic on canvas 40x40-in
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