About scott b. davis

Contemporary photographer scott b. davis’ work is succinct yet expansive; it engages layers of photographic and regional history as it questions the state of modern culture.  davis (foregoes capitalization) takes interest in the intersecting passage of time and place.  The artist creates lush platinum/palladium prints that recorded the beauty of the southwestern landscape, but when drawn to the lights of the city it was the grit not the glamour he revealed.  

davis records the beauty of Southern California, while coaxing mystery and narrative from the otherwise ordinary urban landscape. Working with nineteenth century photographic processes, davis folds layers of intellect and intension into his fine art. The large format camera davis uses nods to the history of landscape photography and those photographers who documented the beauty, grandeur, and legacy of the American West. His keen sense of history engages viewers by inverting notions of power and drama in curiously vacant urban spaces. The work is eerie but calm, dark yet honest. It compels us to look, and encourages us to wonder- are these our monuments? The film noir quality inherent to davis’s photography alludes to the region’s alignment with the film industry.

Related: 2012 Exhibition Press Release: Vestiges | Photographs by scott b. davis