On Thursday, January 4th, 2007, McWillie Chambers will open a solo exhibition of paintings at the John Davis Gallery. The work will be on display through January 28th with a reception for the artist on Saturday, January 6th from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m.
Mr. Chambers was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he attended the Louisiana Polytechnic Institute from 1969 - 71. From 1971 - 73 he studied at the Kansas City Art Institute where he received his BFA. He then went to New York City where he attended the New York Studio School (1973-74). In 1981 he studied at the Universidad de Salamanca in Salamanca, Spain. Currently he lives in New York City and Hudson, New York. His paintings are now shown in dozens of galleries around the country including, among others, Fischbach Gallery and Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation in New York City.
The artist, Bill Sullivan, has written an excellent description of McWillie's work: "McWillie Chambers' painting is not in any way confrontational, and yet he confronts a great dilemma and lets his own inherent graciousness resolve it. The dilemma is that most, but not all, of Chambers' subject matter is the male nude. Photographs and memory are the key to this work. He doesn't paint apples and flowers, or the destitute and desperate, the hopeless. He paints what he needs to paint, and is totally committed to a positive, affirmative view of life. An apple doesn't turn him on, and his paintings are a respite from the suffering in the world we know all too well. If this is gay art, it must be most successful because that seems irrelevant. The sources of this work are actually beside the point. After all, this is not exploitation. Rather it is a celebration of desire, the memory of desire. This work flirts with you, engaging in an erotic dialog rather than being voyeuristic. Never were men and places so desirable. And place is why, as much as the men.
Chambers grew up in Louisiana, the home of deep south graciousness and sophistication. Chambers was raised with the rare attitude toward life, difficult for us New Yorkers to actually believe, and so we look for the falsity. Bigots will find it in gender preference, but even they will be seduced by the paint. The paint flows and moves across the surface, and in the space. Not for a moment does its sensuousness relent. The paint is hot, the color dazzling, the light subtropical. In this place he remembers and desires, he puts men he remembers and desires, and every one of them is a portrait that transcends likeness and makes instead an erotically spiritual connection with the soul. Even when the sexuality is frank to the point of being blunt, an innocence is retained, and this innocence is the true content of this work: With great honesty, we are given an innocence that many of us have forgotten or never knew. Chambers' memory stimulates our own desire.
In a catalogue essay by Bill Arning, this work is put in the tradition of Cadmus, French and Tchelitchew. These paintings seem very different in attitude, style, sense of time and message. The only similarity is subject matter. And even that's different. If he painted apples would he be in the tradition of Cezanne? Charles Demuth and Duncan Grant are mentioned as sharing a personal, private point of view. This work is so out of the closet that the comparison is hard to understand. And finally, even poor latent Tom Eakins is brought up. Better to have considered the case of David Hockney or Janet Fish if she were a gay man. Hockney and Fish are artists who indulge in joy, who epitomize the uniquely American constitutional right to pursuing happiness. The self absorbed narcissism of gay culture and its clichés keep us from Chambers' paintings. If we can get beyond this and accept the true nature of these paintings we will be embraced by innocence." - Bill Sullivan
Gallery hours are Thursday through Monday, 10:00 till 5:30 p.m. For further information about the gallery, the artists and upcoming exhibition, visit
www.johndavisgallery.com
or contact John Davis directly at 518.828.5907.
