Penelope Davis

Penelope Davis employs a photogram technique on color paper to visualize the complex procedure with which she transforms her source material, “book.” The artist states: “The final images are not simply photographs but rather the visible result of a process – a chain of transformations and inversions – whose completion represents an object far removed from its origin.”
Horst Klöver


TRANSFORMATIONS

In the beginning was the book...Penelope Davis (*1963) collects old volumes and “pours” them in silicon molds, filling these with a type of resin so that after the resin hardens the recreated books appear like glass objects. Davis subsequently treats each “glass book” with colored gels and adds additional color filters in the darkroom. Then Davis exposes the books with a photogram technique on color paper. Her densely atmospheric, mysterious images are thus created completely without the use of a camera. The artist says about her work: “The final images are not simple photographs but record a process – a chain of transformations and inversions – that creates the trace of an object many steps removed from its origin.”

Solo Exhibitions

2007	Index, Postgraduate Gallery, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia
2005	Tissue Issue. Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2003	Heavy Light, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2000	Penumbra, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
1998	Proof, Talk Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
1996	Photoelastic, Temple Studios, Melbourne, Australia
1995	Penelope Davis, FAAS, Melbourne, Australia

Group Exhibitions

2007	Josephine Ulrich and Wynn Schubert Photography Award, Gold Coast City Gallery, Queensland, Australia
	ANZ Visual Arts Award, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia
	Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, Western Australia
	William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia
	Penelope Davis, Stephen Haley, Joyce Kohl, La Artcore, Los Angeles, USA
2006	Light Sensitive: Contemporary Australian Photography from the Loti Smorgan Fund, The Ian Potter Centre: National Gallery of Victoria Australia, Melbourne
	20/20, 18th Street Centre for the Arts, Los Angeles, California, USA
2005	Julie Millowick Photography Award, Castlemaine, Australia
	Paper Chase, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
	Recent Acquisitions City of Port Phillip, Linden Gallery, Melbourne
	A4 Art, Westspace, Melbourne
	Fundraiser, Ocular Lab, Melbourne
2004	Floranova, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
	Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts Photography Award, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Australia
	Selected works, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne Art Fair, Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne
2003	First Impressions, The Ian Potter Centre: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
	2nd Sight, The Ian Potter Centre: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
	Boogy, Jive and Bop, Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Australia
2002	White and Black Photography, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
2001	31st Alice Art Prize, The Araluen Centre, Alice Springs, Australia
	City of Hobart Art Prize, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Australia
	Salon Exhibition, Penthouse and Pavement, Melbourne
2000	The Hutchins Art Prize, The Long Gallery, Salamanca Place, Hobart, Australia
	‘F’: Divergent Abstraction and the Photographic Project, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney, Australia
1999	Moet and Chandon Touring Exhibition, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; RMIT Gallery Storey Hall, Melbourne
	‘F’: Divergent Abstraction and the Photographic Project, Glen Eira City Gallery, Melbourne
	BAab/ talk exchange, Hanover Gallery, Liverpool, Britain
1998	Focus #4: Click, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
	Deacons Graham and James/ Arts 21 Award and Exhibition, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne
	Post-Postcard Show, Linden Gallery, Melbourne
	Anniversary, Talk Gallery, Melbourne
	taken, Project Space, RMIT, Melbourne
	F’: Divergent Abstraction and the Photographic Project, Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart
1997	“Disclosure”: new photo artists ‘97, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia
	Introduction, Aalk Artist’s Initiative Gallery, Melbourne
	ANZ Fellowship Exhibition, ANZ Bank, Melbourne
	Work, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne
	Victorian Campus Art Prize and Exhibition, George Paton Gallery, Melbourne
	Proud, VCA Student Union Exhibition and Award, VCA Gallery, Melbourne
	A4 Art, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne
	VCA Graduate Show, VCA Gallery, Melbourne
	Ashton, Raggert, McDougal Exhibition, Ashton, Raggert, McDougal Studios, Melbourne
1996	times five, First Site, Storey Hall, Next Wave Festival, Melbourne
	Some Slips Don’t Show, VCA Gallery, Melbourne
	A4 Art, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne
	Agfa Summer Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
1994	Four Photographers, Linden Gallery, St.Kilda, Melbourne
	A4 Art, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne
1993	Graduate Show, Photography Studies College, Melbourne