Since the start of his career in the 1990s, the work of Dexter Davis has been expressive of the emotional and magical core of our humanity. Mostly, his work as been a dissective portraiture, reaching into the complex variability of how we face the world. He constructs, tears apart, rearranges, patches together, shreds and assembles. Much as all of us often do as our inner selves respond to the people that happen in our lives.

For the past quarter century, Dexter Davis has walked through the galleries of the Cleveland Museum of Art, employed as part of its protective services. He is attentive to visitors, attentive to the museum’s collection, and attentive to visitors interacting with the collection. His work is public, as well as solitary. Through the hours of his work day, he rotates from one area of the museum to another, according to his assignments. There’s not much opportunity for conversation with his co-workers. Mostly, there is a brief exchange of information and greetings with the change of positions.

There have been times through the years when the artist was familiar with many of the people that he worked with. And there have been times, such as recently, when he has found himself among people that he hardly knows. The intimate portraits in this show are a reaching out to engage, to guess and suggest, what he knows and what he does not know.

In this exhibition are portraits of six of the people who work with him in protective services, as well as portraits of an artist and a musician. As they have seen themselves as the artist sees them, there’s a bit of surprise which settles into an acknowledgement, a knowing, that he sees them.

Dexter Davis: Eclectic: People, Places, and Things

June 2 to July 8

WILLIAM BUSTA PROJECTS
15517 Waterloo Road, Suites 2 and 4
Cleveland, Ohio 44110
Wbusta@sbcglobal.net
216.401.2752
Open noon-5pm Thursday, Friday & Saturday during scheduled exhibitions