Davis Birks - Visual Artist

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Sculpture

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	Reconstructed Landscape 42b 2022 Acrylic paint on cotton canvas 150 x 6 x 6 cm. More information on the Reconstructed Landscape Series ...here>> Side view...here>>

	Reconstructed Landscape 41, 2022 Acrylic paint on cotton canvas 59.5 x 59.5 x 4 cm. More information on the a Reconstructed Landscape Series ...here>>

	Reconstructed Landscape 39, 2022 Acrylic paint on found plywood Dimensions variable (installation view - 3m x 6m) More information on the Reconstructed Landscape Series ...here>>

	Vital Statistics: Around 11 Percent (after Barnett Newman) 2021 Acrylic Paint on cotton canvas 243.5 x 203 x 5 cm. From the Vital Statistics Series, this painting offers a visual analysis of women artist represented in major museum collections: women-red/men-black, based on the painting“Adam”, 1951-1952, by Barnett Newman.

	Reconstructed Landscape 31 (window 1), 2021 Acrylic paint on canvas with wood stretcher 190 x 190 x 4 cm. A simple landscape painted on a stretched canvas, cut into sections, mounted facing the wall, with the sections pulled out, and away from the stretcher to create an empty "window". More information on the Reconstructed Landscape Series ...here>>

	Reconstructed Landscape 36, 2021 Acrylic paint on wood panel mounted on white tulle 63 x 56 cm. A simple landscape painted on a wood panel, destroyed and reconstructed.. More information on the Reconstructed Landscape Series ...here>>

	Reconstructed Landscape 15.2 2021 Painted landscape with acrylic paint on wood, destroyed and reconstructed 54 x 55 x 3 cm. More information on the Reconstructed Landscape Series ...here>>

	Reconstructed Landscape 30 2021 Painted landscape with acrylic paint on wood, destroyed and reconstructed 23 x 23 x 4 cm. More information on the Reconstructed Landscape Series ...here>>

	Reconstructed Landscape 29 2021 Painted landscape with acrylic paint on wood, destroyed and reconstructed 22 x 31 x 5 cm. More information on the Reconstructed Landscape Series ...here>>

	Reconstructed Landscape 28 2021 Painted landscape with acrylic paint on wood, destroyed and reconstructed, with painted wood frame. 159 x 128 x 4 cm. More information on the Reconstructed Landscape Series ...here>>

	Reconstructed Landscape 7 2019 Acryilic paint on wood panel 110 x 111 x 4 cm.

	Reconstructed Landscape 5 2019 Acryilic paint on wood panel 36 x 69 x 8 cm.

	Reconstructed Landscape 2 2019 Acryilic paint on wood panel 18 x 32 x 3.5 cm.

	Spring 18.3, 2018 Acryilic paint on canvas mounted on PVC laminate 27 x 37 cm.

	Rendezvous 17: This Land Is My Land, 2014 Oil paint on canvas, plywood and printed cloth 69.5 x 99 x 3.5 cm. This work is an intervention with a painting executed by the artist Aldolfo Espinoza de los Monteros. Painted in the early 70s, I found this piece hanging on the wall of one of my favorite jazz lounges, El Patio. Years after an initial request, the owner graciously allowed the evolution. Influenced by Mondrian, Fontana and my Scottish heritage, this romantic landscape has been zoned for development. more images of the Rendezvous Series...here>>

	Deerxing, 2009 130 x 300 cm. Acrylic paint on canvas

	Red Curtain, 2009 Acrylic paint on canvas 59 x 80 cm. The painting Red Curtain continues the parameters set for the narrative figurative paintings of the late 80s early 90s by juxtaposing an additional set on the stage to create an interactive dialogue between both. High heeled shoes have a rich history dating back to ancient Egypt. They continue to be an urban staple, popularized even in film, as in Necesito Dinero, with Pedro Infante, or as in Wong Kar Wai's 2046, both inspiring the iconography of this painting. Symbols of our contemporary metropolis, high heels epitomize leizure, sexuality and sophistication, yet are totally unfit as footwear beyond the boundaries of our cities.

	Jack N Jill, 2009 Acrylic paint on canvas 130 x 230 cm. This painting is a continuation of a series started in the late 80s titled Big Conscience. A series inspired by the theater sets of Gene Buck, the more recent paintings move beyond a single "set" of activity to incorporate multiple sets and events.

	Exposure 42, 2006 Acrylic paint mounted on acrylic sheeting 31 x 31 cm. Even with today’s digital intervention, an inherent sense of veracity still remains in black-and-white photography, a certain truth about a subject observed from the world around us that has been captured at a certain moment in time. The paintings from the Exposure Series rest aesthetically between Photography and Painting. View more images from the Exposure Series...here>>

	Parkque 7, 2005 Acrylic paint, cloth and silkscreen on canvas 178 x 170 cm. This series draws on two sources, Oriental and Western landscape painting from the 1800s. The works in this series use the concept of the city park to address issues of coexistence between the metropolis and natural environment. The imaginary landscapes from the Parkque Series reflect the idea of the romantic grandeur of an unspoiled paradise exploited in the 1800s by the US to promote western expansion. The landscapes are painted on very thin canvas and then adhered to a thicker canvas to suggest a visual parallel to Oriental landscapes painted on rice paper and attached to other supports. The borders around the landscapes as well pay tribute to the stamped borders of repeated designs often used in conjunction with the Oriental paintings of that time period. However, the designs of the borders in the Parkque Series are derived from city maps. An ironic contrast is set with the rugged landscapes confined within the limits of the city.

	Vivarium 15, 2003 Acylic paint behind glass with acrylic frame 20 x 20 cm. The Vivaria Series started as research for solutions regarding the Exposure Series. Many of the images I was working with were biological in nature, resembling cells or tissue. Viewing the forms through the glass reminded me of the vivaria in museums as well as viewing microorganisms through the lid of a Petri dish, or on a glass slide under a microscope. Visually, the glass acts as a polarizing agent, offering a distinct view of the structure observed. The pieces in the Vivaria Series offer a glimpse of an imaginary biological world behind glass. It is through the glass these worlds are viewed and it is also the same glass that protects us from any danger that might exist on the other side.

	Three Kinds of Skies Over The Rich Earth, 2002 Cut and assembled paint Pantone with metal clip 19 x 5 x 1.5 cm. Paint swatch companies give names to specific colors as a way to appeal to customers at different emotional levels. From the swatch books I have analyzed, some of the major name categories are Food, Nature and Personal Names. Three Skies Over the Rich Earth presents a traditional landscape painting with a sky (skies), horizon and foreground. Each of these landscape elements is a flat, painted color that has been given a name related to nature as a strategy to appeal the emotions of a potential buyer.

	Spiral 35, 2002 Permanent ink and acrylic paint on canvas 191 x 178 cm. It was an admiration of minimal line drawings from the 60s and 70s that initially inspired this series. Using simple systems, artists such as Sol LeWitt and Agnes Martin created beautifully sophisticated work. I was interested in finding a simple system for creating drawings that adhere to basic rules, but which can also develop without a specific outcome. It was the organic beauty of altitude levels on topographic maps that brought me to the idea of using a simple spiral. Added to its beauty, the spiral form has a rich, dense history dating back to ancient, megalithic art and is prevalent in nature, fractal growth systems found on any scale from minute biological configurations such as DNA strands to the vast formations galaxies demonstrate as they expand in the universe. More images of the Spiral Series...here>>

	Wait A Minute Please, 2001 Rust impregnated acrylic paint mounted on wood with metal frame 26 x 98 x 5 cm.

	Esperame, 2001 Rust impregnated acrylic paint mounted on wood 35 x 6.5 x 3.2 cm. The Time Series pieces are text based and it is the relationship of the surface characteristics in conjunction with the text that create meaning for the viewer. Each of these works resembles a timeworn, rusted iron sign conserved from a bygone era. The surface appears to have been in a state of decay for many years, a faux relic, creating the idea of archeological evidence, of an event from the past, a memory, which no longer retains the urgency of the moment, but transmits, or embodies a sense of nostalgia. view more images of the Time Series...here>>

	Rendezvous: Scotch Cloud, 1997 Acrylic paint, printed cloth on canvas 108 x 75 cm.

	Rendezvous: Lago Verde 1, 1997 Acrylic paint on canvas 215 x 160 cm.

	Nube Azul, 1996 Acrylic paint, printed cloth and rust on canvas 160 x 220 cm.

	Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow, 1996 Painting performance using water on existing floor

	Siempre Te Cuidaré, 1995 Acrylic paint on wood 180 x 243 x 8 cm.

	Niño Perdido, 1995 Acrylic paint on wood 16.4 x 24.8 x 1 cm.

	Big Conscience: Get Busy, 1991 Acrylic paint on canvas 150 x 170 cm.


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