Draft:Anna U Davis

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Anna U Davis
Anna U Davis in her studio in Washington DC
Born (1975-04-30) April 30, 1975 (age 50)
Lund, Sweden
NationalitySwedish American
EducationUniversity of the District of Columbia (BA, 2002)
Known forPainting, Mixed media, Collage, Sculpture
Spouse
Peter Davis
​
​
(m. 2000)​
Children1
Websiteannaudavis.com

Anna U Davis (born April 30, 1975) is a Swedish-American visual artist based in Washington, D.C., known for her detailed mixed-media collages and for her engagement with social commentary on subjects such as gender and race across different visual media.[1] [2]

She is recognized for her Frocasian [2] figures and has exhibited internationally, with her work represented in collections such as the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.[3]

Early life and education

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Anna U. Davis was born in Lund, Sweden on 30 April 1975, and from a young age used art as a creative outlet and as a way to express herself. After moving to the United States as a young adult in the 1990s[4], she settled in Washington, D.C. with her partner and their son, where she attended the University of the District of Columbia. During her time at the University of the District of Columbia, she studied under artist Manon Cleary and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Painting in 2002.[5]

In her early work, Davis reduced the human form to geometric shapes, using abstraction and exaggerated features to emphasize psychological and symbolic dimensions.[6] Her later practice developed into a more narrative and socially engaged approach, employing her distinctive visual style to address themes of social inequality, gender roles, and the dynamics of power and identity.[6][7]

Artistic style and influences

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Davis received recognition for her mixed-media works featuring gray 'Frocasian' figures, a motif informed by her interracial marriage and engagement with questions of racial and cultural identity.[4] These figures serve as a means of exploring themes such as cultural duality, belonging, social inequality, and systems of power. Her practice often incorporates meticulously cut paper collages layered with paint and other materials.[2] Washington City Paper critic Stephanie Rudig noted that Davis 'works with great precision, applying thousands upon thousands of tiny collage pieces to painted backgrounds and painstakingly outlining them in black,' producing works that depict Frocasian figures in surreal scenarios while addressing issues of gender and race. [8]

Davis influences include Frida Kahlo, Keith Haring, Romare Bearden, and Antoni Gaudí, whose approaches to narrative, form, and structure inform her multidisciplinary style. Her practice combines acrylic paint, ink, hand-cut paper collage, pumice, and appliqué textiles on canvas.[6]

Her work often connects personal experience with broader social and political themes, addressing subjects such as gender equality, traditional gender roles, surveillance, ecological issues, health, and labor. These themes are frequently presented through vivid color palettes and geometric abstraction, producing compositions that balance visual rhythm with critical commentary.[6]

Breast cancer and Road to Recovery

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Road to Recovery is a series developed in response to Davis’s experience with breast cancer.[7] The works incorporate her Frocasian figures against matte black backgrounds, employing layered acrylic paint and hand-cut paper collage. The series reflects themes of survival, resilience, and community while connecting personal experience with broader considerations of identity. [9]

Career

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Davis has held solo exhibitions in the United States and Europe, with notable presentations at the Brentwood Arts Exchange in Maryland,[9] Davis Gallery in Copenhagen,[10] Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore,[1] and the House of Sweden in Washington, D.C.[11]

Her work has also appeared in international group exhibitions, including the 13th Havana Biennial in Cuba,[12] Consumption: Food as Paradox at Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore,[13] and Women of the Pandemic at Katara Cultural Village in Doha, Qatar.[14]

In 2020, Feminist Studies published a feature by Ellyn Weiss titled “Anna U. Davis: An Introduction”, which included a curated selection of her works and placed her art on the journal’s cover.[15] The following year, her painting Equilibrium (2019) was used for the front and back cover of the journal’s special issue “Feminist Analysis of COVID-19” (Vol. 46.3).[16]

In 2023, Davis participated in the Art x Female Empowerment panel at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., contributing to discussions on gender, art, and social change.[17]

Solo exhibitions

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  • 2025: Walkalong, Dacha Loft, Washington D.C.[18]
  • 2024: And Still We Rise, IA&A at Hillyer, Washington, D.C.[19]
  • 2024: Road to Recovery, Brentwood Arts Exchange, Brentwood, Maryland.[9]
  • 2023: Reality Check, Davis Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark.[10]
  • 2022: Reality Check: The Work of Anna U Davis, IA&A at Hillyer, Washington, D.C.[20]
  • 2021: Reality Check, Swedish American Museum, Chicago[6]
  • 2019: The Frocasians, Dacha Loft, Washington D.C.[21]
  • 2018: Damsels in Distress: Black Edge Wall Sculptures by Anna U Davis, Baltimore, Maryland.[1]
  • 2017–2018: Witnesses, House of Sweden, Washington, D.C.[11]
  • 2012: Pop-up, Gallery at Bloombars, Washington, D.C.[22]
  • 2010: The Dance Before the Kill, Long View Gallery, Washington, D.C.[23]
  • 2009: Bull’s-Eye, Long View Gallery, Washington, D.C.[24]
  • 2006: Sashimi Me: Frocasian Paintings by Anna U. Davis, Studio One Eight, Adams Morgan, Washington, D.C.[25]
  • 2004: Frocasians, Gallery Neptune, Bethesda, Maryland.[26]

Group exhibitions

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  • 2024: A Toast to the Boogie: Art in the Name of Funk(adelic), 200 I Street Galleries, Washington, D.C.[27]
  • 2024: Legacy: Civil Rights at 60, 200 I Street Galleries, Washington, D.C.[28]
  • 2021: Women of the Pandemic at Katara Cultural Village, Doha, Qatar. [14]
  • 2020: Women in the Arts ~ Materiality - In the Flesh, Latela Curatorial x Artsy, Washington, D.C.[29]
  • 2019: Building Bridges: The Politics of Love, Identity, and Race II, Galeria Carmen Montilla, 13th Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba.[12]
  • 2016: Consumption: Food as Paradox, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, Maryland.[13]

Grants and fellowships

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Collections

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Speaking engagements

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Commissions

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Davis was commissioned in 2016 to create a 7 × 10 foot (213 × 305 cm) mixed-media painting for Dacha Beer Garden in Washington, D.C., a work that emphasizes themes of community, cultural identity, and gender balance.[33]

In 2025, her commissioned painting Jackie was unveiled at the Washington, D.C., restaurant of the same name. Measuring 72 × 168 inches (183 × 427 cm), the work reinterprets Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights as a single-panel composition. Integrating her Frocasian figures, the painting combines symbolic references to Bosch with imagery honoring Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.[34]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "A Thousand Paper Cuts". BmoreArt. 13 April 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Frocasians: Moving Beyond Social Construct". Artsy. 28 September 2018.
  3. ^ a b "DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection". DC Arts.
  4. ^ a b "IA&A at Hillyer Presents Reality Check: The Work of Anna U Davis". EastCityArt. 25 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Manon Cleary, 1942–2011". Washington City Paper. 28 November 2011.
  6. ^ a b c d e "A Dynamic View of Social Justice Issues". Third Coast Review. 4 September 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Beyond Chemo: Cancer Patients, Survivors Take Up Paintbrushes to Heal". The Washington Post.
  8. ^ Rudig, Stephanie (21 September 2016). "The People Issue 2016". Washington City Paper.
  9. ^ a b c "Washington Post". The Washington Post.
  10. ^ a b "Tidens pointer skåret ud og til". Kunstavisen. 2023.
  11. ^ a b "In the galleries: Six artists go deep into the weeds". The Washington Post. 1 March 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Building Bridges II: The Politics of Love, Identity and Race". Galerie Myrtis.
  13. ^ a b "Best Group Show: Consumption: Food as Paradox". Baltimore Sun. 13 September 2016.
  14. ^ a b "Women of the Pandemic Exhibition at Katara". Gulf Times. 18 October 2021.
  15. ^ Weiss (2020). "Anna U. Davis: An Introduction". Feminist Studies. 46 (1): 108–110. doi:10.15767/feministstudies.46.1.0108. JSTOR 10.15767/feministstudies.46.1.0108.
  16. ^ "Feminist Analysis of COVID-19". Feminist Studies.
  17. ^ a b "EU State of the Arts Night After Hours at the Hirshhorn". Metro Weekly. 19 April 2023.
  18. ^ "Dacha Loft Anna U Davis Walkalong". East City Art. 21 April 2025.
  19. ^ "Mutual Art".
  20. ^ "Washington Post". The Washington Post.
  21. ^ "Dacha Loft Presents Anna U Davis The Frocasians". East City Art. 24 September 2019.
  22. ^ "Art galleries focus on less-pretty aspects of nature". The Washington Post.
  23. ^ "Anna U Davis: Inaugural Exhibition of Drawings "The Dance Before the Kill" at Long View Gallery". Washington Life.
  24. ^ "Anna U. Davis at Long View Gallery".
  25. ^ "Sushi's So Unusual". Washington City Paper. 10 March 2006.
  26. ^ "Artist Elyse Harrison, 46, Bethesda". The Washington Post.
  27. ^ "A Toast to the Boogie: Art in the Name of Funkadelic". DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
  28. ^ "Legacy: Civil Rights at 60". DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
  29. ^ "Women in the Arts ~ Materiality - In the Flesh". East City Art. 20 October 2020.
  30. ^ "Pollock-Krasner Foundation Announces 2020-21 Grants". Pollock-Krasner Foundation. 22 June 2021.
  31. ^ "Swatch Art Peace Hotel Residency". Swatch Art Peace Hotel.
  32. ^ "The Influence Nation Summit". Cause and Social Influence.
  33. ^ "Buzzy D.C. Beer Garden Launches a Supper Club". Washington City Paper. 9 September 2016.
  34. ^ "Jackie Restaurant Unveils Jackie Painting". Jackie DC.
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