Ronald Davis Biography

RONALD DAVIS was born in Santa Monica, California on June 29, 1937. Raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Student at the University of Wyoming in 1955-56. Worked as a sheet metal mechanic 1957-59. Found his calling as a painter in 1959 at the age of 22. Studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, 1960-64. Started painting as an abstract expressionist, the influences and elements of which would be incorporated into many of his future paintings. Yale-Norfolk Summer School of Music and Art grantee, 1962. 

In 1963 began to paint in a hard-edge, geometric, optical style. Began showing his paintings at museums and galleries in 1964. Moved to Los Angeles. First one-man show at the Nicholas Wilder Gallery, LA in 1965. Made geometric shaped illusionistic paintings using colored polyester resins and fiberglass from 1966 until 1972; these iconic works included the Slab Series and the Dodecagon Series among others. Instructor, University of California, Irvine, 1966. 

First New York solo show at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in 1966 followed by a solo show at Leo Castelli in 1968. Paintings acquired by the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Gallery, London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Art, and the Chicago Art Institute in 1968. National Endowment for the Arts grantee, 1968. Included in international exhihibitions: “4 Documenta International,” Ausstellung, Kasel, Germany, 1968, and “U.S.A., XXXVI International Biennial Exhibition of Art,” Venice, Italy, 1972. 

Purchased a Buchla synthesizer and began sound sculpture and electronic music composition. 

In 1972 built a 5000 sq. ft. studio/residence in Malibu, California. Collaborated in its design with architect Frank Gehry. This ground-breaking design went far in launching Gehry’s career as a “Post-Modernist.” Sold the Malibu studio in the early 1990s. Sadly, it was destroyed in the November 2018 Woolsey fire. 

Learned silkscreening, lithography, etching, and papermaking from Ken Tyler at Gemini, G. E. L. and Tyler Graphics, Bedford, New York. Returned to acrylic paint on canvas in 1973. In 1975-78 painted the large scale, geometric, and illusionistic Snapline Series. Painted Floater Series 1978-79; Flatland Series, 1980-81; Object Paintings, 1982; Music Series of abstract expressionist paintings in 1983-85; Freeway and Freeline Series 1987; Spiral Series 1988. 

Began designing paintings on Macintosh computers in 1988 using VIDI’S 3-D rendering and animation programs, VIDI’s Modeler and Presenter 3D. Continued intensive involvement with the Macintosh using it as primary sketching and drawing tool. 

Traveled to Taos, NM in 1990 and purchased a 10-acre lot north of Taos on the Arroyo Hondo Mesa. Began building a complex of six living and studio buildings, the designs based upon the Navajo dwelling hogan, collaborating with architect Dennis Holloway and anthropologist Charles Cambridge. Discovered the relationship between the Hogan corbeled dome and prior work. Built a number of Hogan Frame Spirit House log sculptures and showed the 18’ diameter X 12’ high octagon Hondo Hogan in Los Angeles in 1991. Moved permanently to Arroyo Hondo, NM in 1993. 

Began painting again in 1995, using the encaustic (wax) medium on wood to create illusionistic shaped compositions. In January, 1998 showed Wax Series at Jaquelin Loyd Contemporary in Taos. Built a 1,600-square-foot storage and display facility in 1999-2000 and liberated hundreds of archived paintings from commercial storage. Purchased cutting-edge 3-D programs Form•Z and Cinema 4D as a result of an ongoing fascination with three-dimensional computer modeling software, and spent a year learning new techniques. In summer 2000, completed Digital Painting series, a set of sixteen original giclée computer prints (some of which were created as early as 1993 in the earlier 3-D program Presenter Pro), working closely on production with Digital Color Imaging, Akron, Ohio. 

On October 1, 2001, Davis began an unusual new series, breaking out of his thirty-year “perspective grid” for which he is widely known. Spent over a year creating more than sixty-five new paintings using expanded PVC plastic and Golden Acrylics, culminating in three exhibitions in summer 2002. Nine paintings from the new series were shown in August, 2002 in the exhibition Ronald Davis: Recent Abstractions at Philip Bareiss Fine Art, Taos; 24 were exhibited in a show by the same name in September 2002 at the Victoria Meyhren Gallery, University of Denver School of Art and Art History, Denver, Colorado. 

Rectilinear Open Box, one of the first of the new series, was acquired by The Harwood Museum Foundation of Taos in November 2001. 

In a broader survey exhibition entitled Ronald Davis: Forty Years of Abstraction, a total of forty paintings, sculptures, and prints spanning four decades – including the new 2001-2002 paintings and a selection of older works in various media – was shown at the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio in October and November 2002. Collaborated in summer 2002 on design and pre-production of full-color 32-page printed catalog accompanying the exhibition. Full set of Digital Painting giclée prints acquired by the Butler Institute prior to the survey exhibiton, as well as a major painting, Five-Panel Wave, and two 1972 Gemini G.E.L. Still Life silkscreens in December 2002.

In 2003 and 2004, continued developing innovative digital paintings using Macintosh computers and advanced, updated 3D rendering software Form•Z and Cinema 4D, outputting original compositions to archival papers with archival inks.

Approached by Galerie Dionisi of West Hollywood, CA in summer 2004 and agreed to an exhibition of selected 1970s, 80s and 90s paintings in spring 2005. The gallery folded before most of the paintings were returned.

Exhibited the Music Series 1983-84 at the Harwood Museum Foundation, a retrospective curated by David Witt, November 2004, for which musical entertainment was provided by the late, great saxophonist Frank Morgan.

Provided rare photography and background history for Wilder, a tribute exhibition to legendary art dealer Nicholas Wilder, at Franklin Parrasch and Washburn Galleries in New York City, 2005.

Took digital computer painting technique to the next level in 2005 with even more advanced 3D software techniques, enlarging the art and working closely with a North Carolina aluminum fabricator and printer to perfect the quality of fine art prints on metal including best practices for support, finish and framing; in effect, aiding the fabricator’s ongoing research and development.