Alonzo Davis, an artist who specialized in assemblages and mixed-media sculptures, liked to work in series, taking a single element and spending years iterating on it. Much of his work was public and included murals for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and an installation for the Philadelphia International Airport. But his mark on the art world stretched far beyond his own creations.
In 1967, Mr. Davis and his brother, Dale Brockman Davis, established the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles amid a surge of Black cultural activity, born out of the racial tensions that marked the decade. The venue gave Black artists a place to introduce their paintings and sculptures and a way to sidestep the limitations of a mainstream art market dominated by white artists and gallery owners. And it became a cultural center where politics, art and education intertwined.
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Alonzo Davis, right, and his brother, Dale Brockman Davis, posed outside their gallery with their father, Alonzo Sr., who had taught psychology in their native Alabama.Credit...via Parrasch Heijnen
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A poster for the Leimert Park Festival of the Arts organized by the Brockman Gallery, undated.Credit...Brockman Gallery Archive/Los Angeles Public Library Special Collections, via parrasch heijnen
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An exhibition announcement for the artists David Hammons and Noah Purifoy, undated.Credit...Brockman Gallery Archive/Los Angeles Public Library Special Collections, via parrasch heijnen
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Opening night at Brockman Gallery in 1967.Credit...Brockman Gallery Archive/Los Angeles Public Library Special Collections, via parrasch heijnen
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Alonzo Davis on opening night of Brockman Gallery, 1967.Credit...Brockman Gallery Archive/Los Angeles Public Library Special Collections, via parrasch heijnen
Influenced by his travels across the American South, Africa and Latin America, Mr. Davis often mixed styles. His Blanket series, an acrylic patchwork arranged on canvas and paper, hints at Kente cloth patterns, which he had seen on a trip to Ghana.
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Twilight, 1986, acrylic on woven canvas.Credit...via parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles; photographed by Ed Mumford
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King’s Peace Cloth, 1985, acrylic on woven canvas.Credit...via parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles; photographed by Ed Mumford
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Rosewood Time, 1992, acrylic on woven paper.Credit...via parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles; photographed by Ed Mumford
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Pan-African Direction III, 1973, mixed media on canvas.Credit...via parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles; photographed by Ed Mumford
Arrows were a recurring motif, symbolizing “a fork in the road,” as Mr. Davis explained in a 1991 interview with the U.C.L.A. Library Center for Oral History Research. “It represents decision-making, deciding which way to go,” he said, adding that he later used the direction of the arrows to indicate a mood (up or down) or a political leaning (left).
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Mr. Davis in his Los Angeles studio, 1970.Credit...Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles, 2011
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Levitation II, Mental Space Series, 1978-79, acrylic on canvas.Credit...via parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles; photographed by Ed Mumford
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Self Portrait Series, Homage to the Music of William L Dawson, 1975, acrylic and mixed media on canvas.Credit...via parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles; photographed by Ed Mumford
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Mr. Davis in New York City, 1973.Credit...Dwight Carter
Always self-referential in his work, Mr. Davis began his Inside series in the 1970s featuring his bearded and bespectacled profile.
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Self Portrait Inside Series #3, 1974, acrylic and spray paint on canvas.Credit...via parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles; photographed by Ed Mumford
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Self Portrait Inside Series #8, 1974, acrylic and spray paint on canvas.Credit...via parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles; photographed by Ed Mumford
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Self Portrait Inside Series, 1974, acrylic and spray paint with foil on canvas.Credit...via parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles; photographed by Ed Mumford
In 1983, Mr. Davis was placed in charge of a 10-artist project to create murals along the Los Angeles freeways for the 1984 Olympics. His own contribution, the triptych seen below, appeared along a retaining wall on the Harbor Freeway.
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The “Eye on ’84” mural in downtown Los Angeles, 110 Freeway, 1984.Credit...Brockman Gallery Archive/Los Angeles Public Library Special Collections, via parrasch heijnen
Among his best-known series was “Power Poles,” a decade-long exploration of burnished bamboo, a symbol of authority in West African cultures.
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Mr. Davis with his “Power Poles.” Undated.Credit...Alonzo Davis Collection, via the Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park
