The School of Design Galleries at Louisiana Tech University will present I, Eye, an exhibition of works by mixed-media artist Rodrecas “drék” Davis, from Sept. 23 through Oct. 21.
An artist talk will take place at 5 p.m. Sept. 23 in TVAC 103, followed by a reception at 6 p.m.
When considering imagery for a piece to include in his M.F.A. thesis exhibition, Davis wanted to create something that could address the persistence of stereotypes in the new millennium. The goal was a work that would underline and interrogate then-President Bill Clinton’s supposition that closing the digital divide would act as both a social and economic panacea. For that, he created P.M.D. or Post Modem Discourse.
P.M.D. is now a series of mixed-media works, fashioned primarily from a repurposed wooden chair with modern implements attached. The overall visage is based upon a mix of stereotypical imagery pulled from a range of pop-cultural references and, more recently, references to African statuary. Taken as a whole, the work is both a Post Modem Discourse and a Post Modern Discourse. Either the stereotypical imagery drives the future, or the technology drives the stereotypes. Using repurposed materials, P.M.D. illustrates what happens when the old and the new collide.
“P.M.D. has been enduring for me as a body of work, and thematically, because we are increasingly reminded of the importance of representation and self-reflection,” Davis said. “These works always allow me to wrestle with how I show up in the world, and to contemplate the echoes of those whose memory I carry with me. Authentically investigating and confronting the multiplicity of voices that make up America allows for art to catalyze the conversations we should regularly be engaged in.”
About the Artist
A native of Monroe, Georgia, Rodrecas Davis is a 2006 graduate of the University of
Georgia Fine Arts program with an emphasis on drawing and painting. Primarily a mixed-media
artist, Davis is also a former columnist for the Athens Banner-Herald and Code Z Online: Black Visual Culture Now.
He has presented papers at several academic conferences, including the Hawaii University International Conferences Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, where he discussed manifestations of hip-hop culture in the visual arts. His work has been featured in the Politics Issue of Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters, ColorLines, and in more than 60 exhibitions.
Davis is professor and head of the Department of Visual & Performing Arts at Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana. He was an inaugural recipient of the Take Notice Fund Grant, awarded by the National Performance Network (Ford Foundation). Davis served as juror of the 77th Annual Wabash Valley Exhibition at the Swope Art Museum in Indiana and was most recently awarded a Creative Residency Fellowship at the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences for Arts & Culture Administrators.
Gallery Hours
Sunday: 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Monday – Thursday: 8 a.m.–6 p.m.
Friday: 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
Saturday: Closed
The School of Design Galleries are located at Louisiana Tech University, 1 Mayfield Avenue, Ruston, LA 71270.