Michael Davis (artist)
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Michael Davis | |
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| Born | 1948 (age 77–78) Los Angeles, California |
| Known for | Art |
| Spouse | Susan Groetsch Davis |
| Website | https://mad-art.com/ |
Michael Davis is a Los Angeles-based artist, working in drawing, sculpture, installation art, and public art. He maintains a studio in San Pedro, California. He received a master's degree in Fine Art from California State University, Fullerton, and has received grants including the National Endowment for the Arts. His work is in museums and galleries across the United States. His significant body of public art is in rail stations, public parks, and civic buildings across the United States and in Japan.[1][2] He is the co-author and subject of Progress: In Search of the American Esthetic, an exhibition that features photographs, video projections, audio, and ephemera documenting the cross-country round trip via car by artists Michael Davis and Stephen Moore from California to New York and back in 1970.[3]
Davis had early influence from Downey High School art teacher Ray White. He was a graduate of Chouinard Art Institute, the influential school and incubator for early Los Angeles contemporary artists. White introduced Davis to the work of Italian abstract expressionist Rico Lebrun, and to the German Bauhaus School of Art, that combined crafts and fine arts.[4]
Davis grew up in Cold War America, and was highly influenced by the ever-present threat of communism and nuclear war.[5]
American installation artist Robert Irwin influenced Davis in the relationship of separation of public and private space. Irwin's public art maintains a focus in creating subtle, at times vanishing environments with plain materials.[citation needed]
