Barriers & Preservers | Margaret Davis
May 20 - June 18, 2022

Artist Statement:
My recent artwork focuses on adolescences from a variety of environments and cultures. The paintings are a visual response to numerous social concerns of today’s teens; be it record levels of anxiety, school safety, street safety, equality, war, or those affected by the upward swing in migration, teen refugees.  The teens are portrayed among symbolic barriers and protectors, such as life preservers, emergency blankets, sandbags, and road barriers. These images, either installed or painted, are connected by their cautionary colors.
The paintings are created in layers. Initially imagery is applied with multi-media, including transfers, spray paint and prints. Over those images resin is poured for a glassy and transparent effect. This first layer creates the environmental backdrop for the figures, which are rendered on top with oil paint. The overall intent is for the viewer to contend with how we as adults, cultures and political entities help or hinder the teens as they form their adult personas.


Artist Bio:
Contemporary realist and figurative painter, Margaret Davis, lives and works in New Orleans where she recently opened and co-directs IBIS, Contemporary Art Gallery. She is an Emeritus Professor from Eastern Michigan University, where she taught Painting and Drawing for 25 years. Margaret was born in Perrysburg, Ohio.  She received her BFA in Sculpture from Boston University, College for the Arts and her MFA in Painting from The University of Michigan. One and Two-Person exhibitions include: Buckham Gallery, Flint, MI The Duderstadt Center Gallery at The University of Michigan; The Kreft Gallery at Concordia University, Ann Arbor, MI; Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath Art School, Bangalore, India: Rosewood Arts Center in Kettering, Ohio: 20 North Gallery, Toledo, Ohio; Detroit Street Gallery in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and  the River Gallery in Chelsea, Michigan.