Terrain 5

The work of alex davis

“I take entirely too much pride in being young and reckless”, a mantra that somehow seems to emanate from the the work of Alex Davis, or so I thought upon encountering his portraits at the night of the event.  It was droll, and fascinating.  A message veiled in it’s shabby sort of aesthetic that masks it’s subtle optimism.

      Two figures stand, enjoying a night cap. Drinking under the phrase “Moonlit cocktail - need a few” Strange looking men, rough customers.  The figure on the left bares a tattoo representing a hobo graffiti tag meaning “afraid”.  The figure on the right with eyeliner, possibly a reference to Stanley Kubrick’s, A Clockwork Orange. These men, one with even a hook for a hand, have had a rough day. They find solace in strong drink.  Two characters, who in the end steal the    spotlight, but in reality represent only the illustration of Alex’s subdued micro-manifesto, painted at the top of the panel.  There are more than a few interesting things about the way these characters are portrayed.  I especially enjoyed the character’s t-shirts.  Similar shirts, baring slogans that mean close to nothing.  “Tortilla flat”  It sounds like a shirt for a dish at some tex-mex restaurant. His counterpart with a shirt that says Bug Slug, with Bug crossed out.  I find these absolutely hilarious.  In the same way that Ralph Steadman used ink to apply his ironic stabs at society, so does alex tap into the spirit of a good natured sort of apathy through a dingy aesthetic.  A gentle assassination of character. 

            Even the medium interested me.  Painting on the sort of wood panels that over run our thrift stores.  The kind of wood panels with the poem “Footsteps” pasted on and lacquered over.  For some reason this use of covering over mass produced art seems to be in the exact same vein as graffiti artists.  Covering up something made by our aesthetic society, giving it a slogan, and making it deliciously grotesque.

            To me, Alex Davis’ work represents our generation’s struggle in between the apathy that comes with modernism, and being overwhelmed with the rampant subjectivism that comes with postmodernism.  It’s a grimy aesthetic, over a voice that yearns for change, but doesn’t quite now what change is needed.  At least not yet, maybe in a drink or two.