Maggie davis
These multimedia works on canvas, paper, and panel are meant to mirror the unsettling ways in which we construct our individual worlds. The title of this exhibition, “The Fourth Wall”, is a theatrical term for the invisible wall that traditionally separates the events on the stage from the audience. In the late 19th century writers began to explore a form of naturalism introduced by Emile Zola. Naturalism in theater broke down the fourth wall by having the characters behave more naturalistically, through ordinary conversational speech with missed cues, non-sequiturs, disconnects and general babble. Anton Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard” exemplified the new naturalism. The characters speak conversationally with missed cues, failed responses, and ineffectual behaviors.
These paintings are made as a collection of parts, the flotsam of minor events that cohere momentarily into some sense of knowing and then flux into something else entirely bringing into question the most recent reality. They reflect the uncertainty of their own making and the uncertainty of our present state.
Davis has written art criticism for Art 21, ART PAPERS, ArtsATL, and BURNAWAY. Her work is a part of numerous public and private art collections including, Posinelli, Polk Museum of Art, Florida International University, Fairchild Tropical Gardens, Saks Fifth Avenue, King and Spalding, AGL Resources, FloridaTrammel Crow for the Proscenium, Miami-Dade Art in Public Places Art Bank, Jackson Memorial Hospital, Florida Art in State Buildings, National High Magnetic Research Laboratory, University of Florida, and University of Central Florida. Davis graduated with a B.F.A. from Florida International University in 1975. Later receiving her M.F.A. from the University of South Florida in 1977.