On the second floor of the beloved Hammer Museum in Westwood, in the corner gallery right next to the gift store, stood a unique exhibition unlike any other in the entire museum. On display from Dec. 21, 2024, through April 13 was the “Out of the Ordinary: Uncommon Materials, Marks, and Matrices” exhibit. This exhibit focused on using unique media, all on paper, to provide messages about social and political issues through art. Some items used included blood, smoke, Kool-Aid, coffee, scrap metal, vegetable juice, pins and dryer lint to create drawings and prints. The displayed artists included Tara Donovan, Anya Gallaccio, Mona Hatoum, Richard Long, Umar Rashid, Sherrill Roland, Ed Ruscha, Zarina and others. While visiting this exhibition, I was surprised by the serenity and simplicity of the display in the gallery. As I walked in, my attention shot to the few breaks in the clean white walls and went to the pieces of the exhibit. I moved in a counterclockwise direction as I was drawn to a piece by Woods Davy titled “CHAC,” which used oil stick, ink and smoke on paper to create a wispy and very dark image on the paper.
CHAC on display at the Hammer Museum. Photo provided by the author, Woods Davy.
Just a few weeks later, I found myself looking at a very similar work of art with familiar strokes and buoyancy of the smoke patterns, but this time about 10 miles away from the Hammer Museum. My second encounter with a Woods Davy original was in Davy’s home in Venice Beach. After being so mesmerized by his work at the Hammer, I was lucky enough to interview him in his home and studio, which were filled with a series of works from the smoke creations to his signature stone statues.
Woods Davy walks us through his drafting and design process for his signature stone sculptures. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Experimenting with the heap of stones he's collected over the years from seas across the world, Woods Davy stacks the rocks together into gravity defying compositions using steel wiring. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Although I went into the interview with hopes of learning more about the smoke paintings, Davy’s home opened up so much more about his career, and luckily, the hospitable artist answered every question I had. Davy has two main mediums that he works in: stone statues and smoke paintings. The stone statues are his main focus, but to create a smoke painting, many unique conditions have to align. Davy went into detail about his thought process for creating the smoke paintings, and that with each new painting, he hoped to express the feeling of floating and being present in “tropical waters,” as he phrased it. He explained that the only time he could create such paintings was when he was on vacation and after floating in water, oftentimes in Mexico. This ritual is central to how he adds feeling to his work.
Woods Davy finds his peace in creating improbable designs using natural material. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Davy described attempting to capture feelings in other aspects of his work, like with the stone sculptures. In the early stages of Davy’s career, he made the sculptures with metal and stone, but after creating some sculptures in this manner, he realized that the stone component was what he truly enjoyed working with, as it was a way to capture balance and peace, as a way to “relieve this tension in the steel,” Davy said. After this shift, his sculptures continued with a main focus on the boulders and the stone elements.
Although Davy is now able to focus on the specific work he enjoys, he wasn’t always so certain about what he hoped to do in life. After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts, Davy moved to San Francisco, California, and decided to start his career as an artist. With no more than $200 in his pocket, Davy worked odd jobs until eventually moving to Los Angeles where he opened a studio downtown. He reminisced over the artist’s scene from the start of his career, where everyone was relatively new to the industry. One of the places Davy mentioned spending time in was Al’s Bar where artists would spend time and share a friendly, almost family-like relationship lacking jealousy.
Mounting a collection in the making over recent decades, Woods Davy's Venice home surrounds the artist with constant inspiration from this cabinet of curiosity like exhibit. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife
Then as he started to gain recognition, Davy would have art museums visit him to display some of his artwork. He has been shown at places like the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or LACMA, and the Hammer and exhibited around the country. Since Davy does not sell the rights to his artwork, he has had to sue many non-original fraudulent pieces on plagiarism charges. Despite all these hardships, Davy was still capable of keeping level-headed and unbendingly honest in his work.
Woods Davy's interest in Kiwefebe masks has evolved over the years from an initial attraction toward their aesthetic and into an appreciation for the elemental energy the figure expresses. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Woods Davy stands at the doorway between his living room and his stone studio. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
One more interesting aspect about Davy’s home is one of the finest passions of his life aside from creating art, and that is collecting it. Specifically, Davy is an enormous collector of authentic African masks and maintains quite a sizable collection which he has been piecing together in auctions and purchases over several decades. Once you are in his house, such an impressive display of Kifwebe masks traditionally made by the Songye and Lube tribes of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the configuration of the house make the collection feel almost like an immersive museum exhibit. Davy discussed how masks were created to be evil or good in intent and energy, something Davy connected to what he attempted in his own life’s work because making sculptures using rocks he found underwater led him to his own positive and peaceful discovery.
A walk to the artist's office. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
After seeing some of Davy’s work, it becomes very distinct and noticeable. So, a few weeks later, I was at the Century City Westfield mall and I noticed a familiar sculpture shape on display. As suspected, it was a Woods Davy original on display from the LACMA, which still has some of his pieces on display for anyone who is interested in seeing a representation of benevolence and peace.
