Dan Davis, Sundowner (Lorem Ipsum), 2020.
Dan Davis, Sundowner (Lorem Ipsum), 2020.


1275 Minnesota St / Bass & Reiner

Opening Reception: Saturday, February 1st | 5pm-8pm

Hyperopia, or farsightedness affects about ¼ of the population. You can see the evolutionary advantage as it’s less helpful to be able to discern a lion up close than from a distance. In contemporary society where it’s less beneficial, we correct for it by burning away bits of our eyes with lasers, reshaping the cornea and allowing for close focus. It’s this better resolution of the present at hand that Davis implies in his work. In part, a reversal of “taking the long view.” Using a visual lexicon composed of last century’s art and design A-list, Davis finds a way to resurrect these objects from their lives as backdrops and stage sets, ironically by portraying them as just that; props in scenes that lack action, but hold the tension of a space pregnant with something about to happen.

Dan Davis, b. 1978, Indiana, USA. Lives and works in San Francisco. Received an MFA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College of Art, London, in 2004. Exhibitions include: 'The Long Look,' Bass & Reiner (2019), ‘Either Those Curtains’, FOLD Gallery, London (2016), ‘ArtWorks Open 2015’, Barbican Arts Group Trust, London (2015), ‘Summer Mix’, Turps Gallery, London (2015), 'Sodium Vapour Night Light', FOLD Gallery, London (2013), ‘DKUK’, Ancient and Modern, London, (2013), ‘Octave’, Chisenhale Gallery, London (2012). This is his first solo exhibition in the United States.