Gene Davis

Fields of stripes comprised of single colors and chromatic groups unfold and overlap simultaneously in the work of Gene Davis. Like a jazz musician who plays by ear, Davis referred to his painting process as “playing by eye.” Though they appear calculated, Davis did not base his paintings on formulas or theories. Davis’s work is generally viewed in the context of the Washington Color School, which received its name after the seminal exhibition of minimal and orderly paintings comprised of stripes, washes, and single fields of color, entitled, “Washington Color Painters,” in 1965.

Davis differed from other Color School practitioners, however. Rather than “one-shot,” symmetrical compositions that could be comprehended at a glance, Davis strove to paint color arrangements that allowed for, and even required, sustained consideration over a period of viewing. Davis spoke of the importance of color as well as color interval. He was interested in the rhythmic effects caused by alternating colors and suggested that instead of simply looking at a work, select a color and consider how it operates throughout the painting. Davis played his color stripes like notes on a piano: varying between soft, bright, strong, short, dominant, inharmonious, and harmonious chords. He alternated and repeated colors to create a sense of rhythm. The stripe was a continuous source of invention for Gene Davis.

Davis was included in seminal exhibitions during his lifetime including “Post Painterly Abstraction” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1964 curated by Clement Greenberg, and “The Responsive Eye” at the Museum of Modern Art in 1965 curated by William Seitz. In 1974, Davis was awarded the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. In 1984, he was appointed the commissioner of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Courtesy of Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe