The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Black Heads

Black Heads

2010
(American, b. 1965)
America, Ohio, Cleveland
collage of prints (woodcut, etching and aquatint, stencil, and Xerox), charcoal, marker, crayon, pastel, gesso, paint, and found objects
Sheet: 126.5 x 96.6 cm (49 13/16 x 38 1/16 in.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 2011.38
© Dexter Davis
Location: not on view

Description

Black Heads depicts a monster whose one eye is a target. Embryos float above a row of sharp teeth, their innate innocence corrupted by the gun inside of each. Incorporated into the top of the collage is a portion of Icarus, a print by H. Carroll Cassill, Davis’s printmaking instructor at the Cleveland Institute of Art. It was salvaged from a fire that destroyed almost all of Davis’s work and possessions. In Greek mythology Daedalus fashioned wings from feathers and wax for his son, Icarus, warning him not to fly too close to the sun. Icarus ignored his father’s advice and fell to his death as the wax melted. "The symbolism of the story and its parallel with my own life was scary," Davis said. "But I am still trying to reach the heavens."
  • 2010
    Dexter Davis (the artist) [1965–], Cleveland, OH
    2010–11
    (William Busta Gallery, Cleveland, OH), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    June 6, 2011–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Our Stories: African American Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 26–May 18, 2014).
    Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 228): July 11, 2012- February 25, 2013.
    Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 229): October 2011 - February 3, 2012.
  • {{cite web|title=Black Heads|url=false|author=Dexter Davis|year=2010|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2011.38