When I began this last series of “Plumb Bob / Polar Series” tondo paintings, my first goal was to “find the center.” Soon, I saw that the circles needed something to protect them and to confirm their objecthood, so I mounted them onto rectilinear backgrounds. During a studio visit, artist friend Fred Smith suggested I try turning the squares 45 degrees to be diamonds. I liked the effect; it worked.
Later, I came across a book about Piet Mondrian, who I have always greatly admired. I was delighted to discover this passage:
“And then it happened. Mondrian took the painting by the top right-hand corner and walked over to the wall. He could not believe his eyes. Looking at the painting as he held it by one corner, it occurred to him that he could hang it as a lozenge. He banged a nail into the wall, higher than usual, and installed the painting, like a diamond. The effect was astonishing.…The realism of the painting as an object was greatly reinforced by the new orientation. Again, the painting had shown the way, without the hand of any ‘author’…”
Excerpt from Piet Mondrian: A Life, by Hans Janssen, page 41. Ridinghouse and Kunstmuseum den Haag, 2022.
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So Fred and Mondrian together prompted my epiphany. None of us invented the idea of the diagonal; but the power of it in this case is wonderful, an active ingredient. Using the diagonal defines and enables the location of the picture plane, which includes the wall itself. The diagonal orientation protects the object, giving it an effective defense against sofas, wall sockets, thermostats, and other visual violaters.
Piet Mondrian – Lozenge With Gray Lines, 1918
On my annual visits to Taos, the highlight was always to have several visits with Ron. Since my last visit he had done many many more of the tondo paintings. Each one unique, beautiful and visually engaging. Since the previous year Ron had started mounting the paintings on (usually) black fields inside a framing edge on square bases. After some looking and talking I turned one of the paintings on edge as a diamond. From the start of our friendship, in our work we shared a central need/fact; that a painting is a real physical object on the space of the wall. I rather bluntly stated that if he put the tondos on a square he was simple framing the round painting. When put on the diamond the work becomes a unified piece; a Ron Davis painting as an object that exists in the real space of the wall. Mondrian came to mind. It was a bit of an ah-ha moment we connected on.
*Note; I wrote this 11/21/25, after Barbara told me of Ron’s passing. It was a blessing to know Ron. I will always treasure the memories of our conversations and time together.