While studying at CCAD about a decade ago, artist Tyler Davis says he felt pressure from fellow students, faculty, and even random voices on social media to create work that centered “the Black experience.” He initially described this sentiment as jarring, as he believed that everything he created as a Black artist reflected that reality in some way.
“Before college, I was just doing art for fun,” Davis said in a phone interview in mid-August. “And then I switched and tried to (fake it) because everyone wanted me to do work that had that meaning. I felt pressured … to do ‘black art,’ so to speak. But in my head, it was like, whatever I do should be considered black art, so I should just do whatever I want.”
While Davis resented the undertones of some of these criticisms from his college days—he recalled a white professor telling him he was “privileged” to be working as a black creative at a time when art that grappled with issues of race and inequality was finally receiving more attention—he now appreciates how they made him rethink his approach, resulting in a series of collections that exhibit increasing depth and complexity.
“I really feel like a proud father,” Davis said, describing the portraits that make up his new exhibition titled “You Think You Know Me?!” exhibited at the Fresh AIR Gallery until September 13. “I once hung the work in my studio and looked at it the way a father looks at the lawn after mowing it, hand on hip and full of pride.”
Davis said the idea for “You Think Your Know Me?!” came about nearly 10 years ago and first appeared in a zine of the same title that he created. American boy and for which he created a series of portraits of various friends and acquaintances, to whom he repeatedly suggested resemblances. Davis said he was also suffering from a form of psychosis at the time, which was exacerbated by his growing interest in simulation theories. So when people told him he looked like someone else, “that really started to mess with my brain,” he said.
“People would always say, ‘You know, you look like blah, blah, blah,’ and I would always get so mad and angry about it that I wanted to physically fight,” the artist continued, adding that these misidentifications occurred most often when he crossed white spaces – something unfortunately familiar with the experience of black people“And then I went to therapy and got medication, and I realized I shouldn’t give other people that kind of power.”
These ideas resurfaced when Davis received an email last year about an exhibition at Fresh AIR, a Southeast Healthcare project that highlights the work of artists affected by mental illness and/or substance abuse. When the email was sent, Davis was in the middle of creating another portrait series that focused on people he had been mistaken for, as well as the various stereotypes he faced when passing through certain places.
“It made me think more deeply about myself,” said Davis, who shared that concepts often have to mature for months or even years before they come to the surface and take shape on screen. “I know how I see myself and how I see Tyler. But when I walk into some white rooms, I feel like they see me like a silly little monkey boy, like I have to perform a certain way or be a certain way.”
Growing up, Davis was initially drawn to music for this creative release, but a deeper love of art emerged when he discovered Gorillaz, a cartoon band formed in the late 1990s by musician Damon Albarn (Blur) and London artist Jamie Hewlett. “I was just a kid when that first album (Gorillaz) came out (in 2001), but it got me into drawing a lot more,” said Davis, who as a youngster based everything from his sense of humor to his style on the various band members and especially Murdoc, voiced by Albarn. “Before Gorillaz, drawing was just something I did for fun. I didn’t know you could really do anything with art. There was no career path and I didn’t see any way to do anything with it (professionally) until I saw Gorillaz. But seeing them encouraged me to keep going. And I started taking art more seriously and figuring out who I was and what I wanted to do with it, because I knew I could take it as far as I wanted.”
Initially, however, Davis had what he described as a “toxic and negative approach” to art, with the goal of becoming rich or achieving some level of fame. In recent years, however, he has begun to paint purely for the sense of relaxation he finds in his craft, with art in general serving as a necessary form of therapy.
“I really try to be a lot more vulnerable. And I realize that the things I see and smell and hear ultimately affect how the art looks and feels,” Davis said. “And I love how people can relate to it and how it can make other people feel better about themselves. I really just try to take (young Tyler) and make him feel happy and safe and proud. … I love what I do and love the fact that this is something that comes out of me naturally.”
