Penelope Davis - Pictures, Art, Photography

Penelope Davis


Background Information about Penelope Davis

Introduction

Penelope Davis employs a photogram technique on color paper to visualize the complex procedure with which she transforms her source material, “book.” The artist states: “The final images are not simply photographs but rather the visible result of a process – a chain of transformations and inversions – whose completion represents an object far removed from its origin.”
Horst Klöver


TRANSFORMATIONS

In the beginning was the book...Penelope Davis (*1963) collects old volumes and “pours” them in silicon molds, filling these with a type of resin so that after the resin hardens the recreated books appear like glass objects. Davis subsequently treats each “glass book” with colored gels and adds additional color filters in the darkroom. Then Davis exposes the books with a photogram technique on color paper. Her densely atmospheric, mysterious images are thus created completely without the use of a camera. The artist says about her work: “The final images are not simple photographs but record a process – a chain of transformations and inversions – that creates the trace of an object many steps removed from its origin.”

Bio

1963born in Melbourne, Australia
1985 Bachelor of Arts, University of Melbourne
1989Certificate of Illustrative Photography, Photography Studies College, Melbourne
1997Post-Graduate Diploma in Fine Art, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
2007Master of Fine Art, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne

Awards

2007ANZ Visual Arts Award
1997Victorian Campus Art Prize and Exhibition, Award for Innovation
VCA Student Union Exhibition and Award, VCA Student Union Award

Grants

2005-2007Melbourne Research Scholarship, University of Melbourne
2001Tokyo Studio Residency, Australia Council for the Arts (Feb-May 2003)
1998Studio residency at Linden Gallery, Melbourne (1998-2000)

Exhibitions

2007Index, Postgraduate Gallery, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia
2005Tissue Issue. Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2003Heavy Light, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2000Penumbra, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
1998Proof, Talk Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
1996Photoelastic, Temple Studios, Melbourne, Australia
1995Penelope Davis, FAAS, Melbourne, Australia
2007Josephine Ulrich and Wynn Schubert Photography Award, Gold Coast City Gallery, Queensland, Australia
 ANZ Visual Arts Award, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia
Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, Western Australia
William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia
Penelope Davis, Stephen Haley, Joyce Kohl, La Artcore, Los Angeles, USA
2006Light Sensitive: Contemporary Australian Photography from the Loti Smorgan Fund, The Ian Potter Centre: National Gallery of Victoria Australia, Melbourne
20/20, 18th Street Centre for the Arts, Los Angeles, California, USA
2005Julie Millowick Photography Award, Castlemaine, Australia
Paper Chase, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
Recent Acquisitions City of Port Phillip, Linden Gallery, Melbourne
A4 Art, Westspace, Melbourne
Fundraiser, Ocular Lab, Melbourne
2004Floranova, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts Photography Award, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Australia
Selected works, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne Art Fair, Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne
2003First Impressions, The Ian Potter Centre: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2nd Sight, The Ian Potter Centre: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Boogy, Jive and Bop, Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Australia
2002White and Black Photography, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
200131st Alice Art Prize, The Araluen Centre, Alice Springs, Australia
City of Hobart Art Prize, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Australia
Salon Exhibition, Penthouse and Pavement, Melbourne
2000The Hutchins Art Prize, The Long Gallery, Salamanca Place, Hobart, Australia
‘F’: Divergent Abstraction and the Photographic Project, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney, Australia
1999Moet and Chandon Touring Exhibition, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; RMIT Gallery Storey Hall, Melbourne
‘F’: Divergent Abstraction and the Photographic Project, Glen Eira City Gallery, Melbourne
BAab/ talk exchange, Hanover Gallery, Liverpool, Britain
1998Focus #4: Click, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
Deacons Graham and James/ Arts 21 Award and Exhibition, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne
Post-Postcard Show, Linden Gallery, Melbourne
Anniversary, Talk Gallery, Melbourne
taken, Project Space, RMIT, Melbourne
F’: Divergent Abstraction and the Photographic Project, Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart
1997“Disclosure”: new photo artists ‘97, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia
Introduction, Aalk Artist’s Initiative Gallery, Melbourne
ANZ Fellowship Exhibition, ANZ Bank, Melbourne
Work, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne
Victorian Campus Art Prize and Exhibition, George Paton Gallery, Melbourne
Proud, VCA Student Union Exhibition and Award, VCA Gallery, Melbourne
A4 Art, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne
VCA Graduate Show, VCA Gallery, Melbourne
Ashton, Raggert, McDougal Exhibition, Ashton, Raggert, McDougal Studios, Melbourne
1996times five, First Site, Storey Hall, Next Wave Festival, Melbourne
Some Slips Don’t Show, VCA Gallery, Melbourne
A4 Art, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne
Agfa Summer Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
1994Four Photographers, Linden Gallery, St.Kilda, Melbourne
A4 Art, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne
1993Graduate Show, Photography Studies College, Melbourne