Davon Brantley, Chapter 2: Midsommar in Granada Gardens, at Akron Soul Train

Anyone who has gone through the loss of a loved one will tell you that grief doesn’t come to you in expected or predictable ways. Rather, it hits you at unexpected and/or inopportune times. It also will rear its head one, two, or even twenty years after you’ve lost that special person. It is like living breathing thing that you must come to know and even cherish to understand.

Davon Brantley’s exhibit, Chapter 2: Midsommar in Granada Gardens, a collection of paintings in conversation with purgatory and grief, recently on view at Akron Soul Train, is an expression of the artist grappling with the loss of his grandmother. This is a colorful and painterly exhibition that features surrealist-like autobiographical imagery evoking the viewer’s emotions through the in-depth sharing of the artist’s experiences.

“I lead the audience through my mind as if they were watching a play, utilizing dramatic compositions, absurd realism, and characters that act out certain emotions and themes in which I play all of the roles. Through larger-than-life-size scaled pieces, I present a glimpse inside of my mental landscape and inhabitants; finding a ground for what is invisible that bleeds into my waking world,” states Davon Brantley in wall text.

Indeed, it is the size of the works that helps hold your attention as you walk thought the gallery space. Scaled up to nearly six by four feet in many cases, the work holds the wall while it captures your eye. The Dichotomy of Acceptance is painted with oil and reflective medium on paper that features a golden colored male and gray to black colored male or twin of the other in front of a red sun with a blue-sky background. Both figures are on top of grass plain, larger than life and fighting. The dark figure on the right has punched through the gut of the gold figure on the left. The golden male has red hands and hair that are the color of the sun in the background. Something akin to dust mask or bag dangles from one of the hands of the darker figure. The gut punch featured in this painting creates a tangible and visceral response when you look at it. 

There is so much happening that is familiar, and that one can relate to in the painting. Stil, the imagery is stretched, in this case literally by the dark figures hand appearing to almost Pearse the other figure. There is also a comic or theatrical element here that helps drive the feeling and emotion shared in the work home. It’s easy to imagine the fight, the anger and the surprise shown here.  

I Am Bound By Emotion is an oil on paper that features a person bent over and contorted into the rectangular shape of the paper. The subject’s head is in the lower left corner of the image and stairs out off to the right. A slightly oversized knee dominates the upper right corner of the composition. This feature helps to bracket the person into the painting and creates a physical tension in the work. The rest of the subject’s body is rainbow colored much like a thermal image. 

In this work you can feel the artist coming to a complete stop emotionally. It’s as if this moment of collapse is sharing the weight of their personal feelings and highlighting the different emotions that are pulsing through them. While it’s a rainbow of colors, it’s clear that it’s not an easy or wondrous experience for the subject being painted. In this work, we can feel this artist despair and loss as much as or more than any other work in the exhibit.

It’s always exciting to see good art. So much out there just doesn’t reach a level of skill and expression that is consistent and professional. Davon Brantley’s work is well painted, compelling,  and demands that we pay attention to it.

Davon Brantley’s Chapter 2: Midsommar in Granada Gardens was on view February 26 – April 5, 2025 in the Burton D. Morgan Gallery at Akron Soul Train. The artist has an installation in the group show, The Nature of Healing, on view at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens through May 18, and is part of a group show, Five Guys, on view at Cyrus Art Gallery in Akron May 16 – July 3.