ANYA DAVIDSON

Press Release as pdf

ANYA DAVIDSON
CHARACTER FLAWS

November 7 - December 6, 2014
Opening Friday, November 7, 7-10PM

Tomato House is thrilled to present a solo show by acclaimed cartoonist, printmaker, and musician Anya Davidson. "Character Flaws" features a new series of 50 ink and marker character drawings, a taxonomy of Imaginary creatures and real people reminiscent of Hokusai's sketchbooks, Seydou Keita portrait photography and Dungeons & Dragons monster manuals.

"Character Flaws is an attempt to capture some of the inhabitants of my brain, my neighborhood, my planet and my galaxy. They are usually in motion but they stood still for these portraits. As a cartoonist I have a deep and abiding obsession with the human figure and the myriad ways it can be altered, twisted and re-interpreted. I also have a compulsion to make up stories. Sometimes my character designs generate stories and sometimes it's vice versa. Each one of these creatures is the potential protagonist of a story I haven't thought up yet." -A.D.

Davidson has produced an avalanche, a torrent, a dizzying froth of comic work over the course of the last decade, often self-published in labor-intensive, hand silk screened editions. Her storylines collapse elements of the fantastic, the grotesque, and the mythological onto scenes of everyday life, exposing the ancient forces at work under our veneer of modern civilization. Her story "Barbarian Bitch" appeared in Kramers Ergot 8 and the graphic novel "School Spirits" was published in 2013 by PictureBox. "Band For Life", her Ignatz-nominated online comic about the trials and tribulations of a group of young musicians, appears weekly on vice.com.

This exhibition is made possible in part by a Community Arts Grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council.

Tomato House is an artist run space in Ocean Hill, Brooklyn that hosts exhibitions, screenings, and community events. Gallery hours are Saturday 1:00 - 6:00 and by appointment. For more information please contact Rebecca Bird or Matthew Thurber at 646-801-7783.