Anna U. Davis
In her first exhibition of works on paper, "The Dance before the Kill," Anna Davis continues her investigation of contemporary feminist concerns, this time giving form to the sexually charged hostilities that pervade both gender and race relations. Her new series adopts the pasodoble as a metaphor to contrast the fluidity of women's roles with the aggressive, prideful posturing of paternal authority. She has translated the gray Frocasian characters of her vibrant mixed media paintings into starkly black and white illustrations of entangled bodies. An amalgam of the terms Afro and Caucasian, Frocasian designates the artist's construal of Primitivism's noble savage and symbolizes the utopist aim to transcend identity politics. This tension, along with the flamboyant garb and histrionic facial expression of each character, evokes the dance of the bullfight.
Exhibition Catalog