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Davis Birks - Presence of the conceptual art in Puerto Vallarta.
By: Rubén Cham- July 2005
The conceptual art, one of the dominant currents in the world-wide scope of the visual arts during the last decades of century XX, has, in Vallarta, one of its more recognized exponents in the national level: Davis Birks.
 The minimalism, known also like ABC Art, Cool Art, Serial Art and Primary Structures, rejected in block the positions of the abstract expressionism, with the argument that the emotional references and subjectivity were excessive. By means of the concept "less it is plus" the minimalist pioneers impelled the idea of the "epistemological cube", that symbolized the high-priority bond of the art with the clarity, the rigor, the literality and the simplicity of the works.
Sol LeWitt (Hartford, Connecticut 1928) projected the minimalist aesthetic from his first works; nevertheless, soon he began to explore the possibilities of the use of pre-established systems to obtain a direct transformation of logic ideas and concepts in a visual expressive form. And as a result of this decisive advance, Sol LeWitt became precursor of the Conceptual Art. In 1967 published "Paragraphs on conceptual art" manifest in which it proclaimed the fundamental principle for the concept art: the supremacy of the idea over the materialization of the art work. "The idea is a machine that generates art", "the art must go more to the mind of the spectator than to his glance".
Under the influence of Sol Lewitt, and the work of Agnes Martin, Davis Birks develops his personal artistic proposal conforming the series Spirals and Vivaria in where realism and abstraction, reason and chaos, conceptual idea and physical aspect, are extreme polestars that interact harmonically sharing a same space, by means of the use of varied and innovating techniques and the development of a fresh and particular expressive language that gives rise to a heterogeneous dialogue with the spectator in where the reflection of the aesthetic enjoyment takes part on a par. Despite the clear inscription of the Davis Birks works to the conceptual art, a bond with the figurative art exists, at least in his series Landscapes, in where Eastern resonances in the technical use of inks are also perceived.
Davis Birks (Seattle, WA 1957), Mexican by adoption, has incursion with equal facility and dominion in the disciplines of drawing, sculpture, engraving, painting and installation with a will of experimentation without border or limits. He studied Arts (BFA) in the Arizona State University. Winner of the Great Prize Omnilife 2000 in Sculpture. Works of his authorly are part of the permanent collection of the Museum of the Arts, Guadalajara. A brief count of his register of exhibitions refers: Die Signale Installation, Klosterruine, Rüeggisberg, Switzerland (2003), Distribution of Loads, Gallery Nina Menocal, DF (2002), Zimmeraxx, Oberbutschel, Bern, Switzerland (1999), Feeding the Obsession, Museum of the Arts, Guadalajara (1998), Confessed Reasons, Gallery Oscar Roman, DF ((1996), To the Visceral Edge, Museum of the City, Guadalajara (1994), Lowe Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (1992), Mexican Report, Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, San Antonio, TX (2004), Vibrate Optica, displayed in the National Museum of Fine Arts, Bucharest, Rumania (2004), in the Kulturzentrum bei den Minoriten, Graz, Austria and in the Cultural Institute Cabańas, Guadalajara (2002), Museum Rufino Tamayo, Biennial 2000, DF, University of Winnipeg, Canada, Museum of Contemporary Art, Monterrey (1997), the Hudson River Museum, New York (1992), VII Biennial of San Juan, Latin American Engraving, San Juan, Puerto Rico (1998). The Museum of Modern Art of Caracas exhibits his work permanently. In Puerto Vallarta, the work of this excellent artist can be appreciated in Gallery T. Fuller.
Rubén Cham
E-mail: ruben_cham@yahoo.com
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