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B R A D D A V I S

@braddavisartist

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Also @pleinairpoetry with @the_real_alexmac

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So excited to have this painting in the group show “Contemporary Figuration” at @abendgallery . Also the first time showing with many of my favorite artists including @davidkassan who is displaying his new self portrait!
I was recently asked to write a statement for this painting for another project so I’ll include that below:

“Noumena”
oil on panel
32”x24”

“Noumena is a painting about presence in the midst of absence. It is my first portrait of my fiancée, Alex, in our newly shared home. The title is a Kantian term for things that exist beyond human perception. In my figurative paintings, I am interested in constructing the sense of a portrait through layered, symbolic elements and design choices. In this piece, I posed Alex in front of our dining room curio cabinet with a cast of Diana the Huntress perched above, both illuminated by an unseen light that projects their opposing shadows onto the wall. In Greek and Roman mythology, Diana is seen as a beacon of life and death– capable of both taking lives during the hunt and protecting them during childbirth. In this way, she references the loss of Alex’s mother, my mother in law, who unexpectedly passed away a year ago. Alex is watched over by Diana, yet confronts her in the shadows on the wall.

The painting might well be titled by its homophone Numina as it is filled with holy presences. Inside the cabinet is a plaster cast of my own face resting on a stack of books representing my artistic influences, the spirits of hope that drive my painting practice. By including casts in my figure paintings, I’m able to reference the elemental beginnings of my traditional background and position the work within timeless narratives. On the bottom right shelf sits a bouquet of dried flowers that Alex received from friends after losing her mother. They’re dead yet preserved– a nod to painting, which never dies. Finally in the dark recesses on the left side of the composition is an empty bowl symbolizing the cavity of loss that always remains, as well an openness to receive.“
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#contemporaryart #dianathehuntress #figurativepainting #contemporaryfiguration #abendgallery #portraitpainting #oilpainting #bamthegram taken in Cincinnati, Ohio by @braddavisartist

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3 years ago

“Adjunct”
oil on panel
24”x24”
2022
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This is a painting I’ve been returning to in the background for a while now. It is layered with allegorical and symbolic elements, but I sometimes feel it is best not to over explain these things. As Edward Hopper said, “If I could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint”.
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@artacademyofcincinnati @sugarlift #selfportrait #milodecroton #oilpainting #artacademyofcincinnati #figurativeart #interior #castpainting #sugarlift #contemporaryrealism by @braddavisartist

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5 years ago

“Énouement”
Oil on Panel
27”x20”

I’m currently working on a new series that focuses on the idea of “the end of an era”. The paintings so far are both personal and universal in their subjects and consist mostly of people and places that are deeply familiar to me. This one has been in the studio for the past couple weeks and is about my time in art school and the teachers who impacted my career as an artist. It shows the faculty office, now empty in their absence, which I used as my own office when I returned briefly to teach there. The table is both a purposeful void in the composition and a reference to the idea of “The Void”. There are several other symbolic elements and design choices, but for now I will just include some of the influences I was thinking about while painting this:

1) “Belief in the Afterlife” 2010, by @thebobartlett
2) “Dreamland” 2003, by @vincent_desiderio
3) “Black Square” 1915, by Kasimer Malevich
4) Black Square and other works at “The Last Futurist Exhibition (0-10)”
5) “Untitled” 1963, by Lee Bontecou taken in Cincinnati by @braddavisartist

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2 years ago

Last week @the_real_alexmac and I participated in the first @cincinnatiartweek on Race Street where I painted this street scene and Alex handed out poetry prompts. It was also fun seeing @chaswied and his show “Son of an Art Teacher” in the building right behind us. Thanks to everyone who stopped by! taken in Cincinnati by @braddavisartist

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3 days ago

A few weeks ago, we helped lead a workshop with @uacvoice Woven Branches at @roeblingbooks in Newport, Kentucky. When the group split up to respond to a creative prompt, Brad walked around the cafe to a side patio where he could see a flock of paper birds someone had hung above the espresso machine through the window.

Read more about his painting in our latest Substack post. 🔗 by @braddavisartist

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6 days ago

Thanks @michaelthompsonstudios for helping me sneak an oil painting into @blinkcincinnati !

Go check out “Queen City Quilt” on Fountain Square during your Blink walk this weekend. It features work from several local artists focusing on the creative branches of our city. Mine was “architecture” and I couldn’t think of a better building to paint than Union Terminal @cincymuseum taken in Fountain Square by @braddavisartist

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10 days ago

Another study for my painting of Piatt Park downtown. This one I started as the sun was coming up and I really liked the way one of the buildings caught the morning rays, projecting a small pattern of dappled light onto the pavement. That only lasted for about ten minutes and the traffic was even more fleeting.

Come see the studies as well as the final painting Thursday November 5th at @eiselegallery ! taken in Piatt Park by @braddavisartist

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15 days ago

What a great day @cincinnatiartweek! Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by to chat! If you haven’t made it out yet, be sure to check out @chaswied’s exhibit this week along with all the other amazing CAW installations! 🌞 taken in Cincinnati by @braddavisartist

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15 days ago

Come out on Sunday to see our beautiful city filled with art and working artists! Spend time with @chaswied‘s exhibition and watch Brad’s painting take shape. We’ll be sharing Cincinnati themed poetry prompts so you can flex your own creative muscles! 🌻 taken in Cincinnati by @braddavisartist

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17 days ago

November 5th @eiselegallery come see “Echoes of Plein Air: Cincinnati Reimagined” featuring six local painters all returning to places in Cincinnati painted 100 years ago.

This was another preparatory study for my final painting based on Edward Hurley’s “Garfield Park”. I decided to set up facing Piatt Park from the west looking east in order to get the Harrison statue into the composition. The goal then was to determine what time of day would be best to reference Hurley’s compressed value range. taken in Piatt Park by @braddavisartist

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18 days ago

What happens when a contemporary artist is asked not simply to paint Cincinnati en plein air, and not just reproduce a historic painting, but to answer it?

For Echoes of Plein Air: Cincinnati Reimagined, Nate Flanagan and Brad Davis each began by drafting a historic Cincinnati painting. They then returned to those same places with their own canvases, responding to what the earlier artist saw, what has changed, what remains, and what they themselves bring to the conversation.

The result is neither a copy of the past nor simply another plein air painting of Cincinnati. It is a visual conversation across time between the historic artwork, the place as it exists today, and the contemporary artist.

This is only the beginning.

Echoes of Plein Air: Cincinnati Reimagined
November 5–30, 2026
Opening Reception November 5th, 6-9pm

Participating Artists: @nate_flanagan_ @braddavisartist @luschek @pamelafol @tonylippsart @ellinachetverikova

Eisele Gallery

Cincinnati’s Fine Art Gallery

Historical works referenced:
Joseph Henry Sharp
Fountain Square Pantomime (1892)
oil on canvas
In the permanent collection of the @cincyartmuseum

E. T. Hurely
Garfield Park (1917)
oil on canvas
In the permanent collection of the @cincyartmuseum

#cincinnatiartgallery #cincinnatiart #pleinairpainting #painting taken in Cincinnati, Ohio by @braddavisartist

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19 days ago

Brad’s working on a painting inspired by Edward Hurley’s “Garfield Park” for @eiselegallery’s upcoming show Plein Air: Cincinnati Reimagined.

Read more about it on our latest Substack post 🔗 taken in Cincinnati by @braddavisartist

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22 days ago