PRESS RELEASE FOR ABSTRACTION
Director & Curator: Antonia Lancaster

OFFTHEMAPGALLERY presents it's October show ABSTracTION
Opening Reception, Saturday, October 4, 2 - 5pm
Show runs from October 4 - October 31, 2003
80 Spadina Avenue, 5th floor, Toronto
Gallery Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 11am to 5pm

ABSTracTION
(A dedication to Gregory Wirick)

An installation by Carl Davis

Carl Davis was the Director and owner of the Carl Davis Gallery in Ottawa which ran from 1986 - 1999. Over these years Davis collected many contemporary artworks in all mediums. This collection was to become the basis of the Davis- Wirick Art Foundation but before that happened a great part of the collection was stolen.

The theft of the collection came at the same time as the loss of his partner and emphasized to Davis how fragile life and connections are. Davis has chosen to use his curatorial time at offthemapgallery to display pieces and facsimiles of the collection and therefore the works of the artists that have shown through his gallery over the years. Davis does this through the use of video, installation, and digitized output.

Carl Davis
In May 1986, the Carl Davis Gallery opened its doors in the Byward Market in Ottawa with a group exhibition which included pieces Davis had collected in New York. Throughout a 13 year period the gallery's focus was to showcase artists whose works would challenge the viewer through mediums of photography, painting, drawing, and sculpture. To mention a few artists represented by the Carl Davis Gallery: Harland Johnson, Ineke Standish, Michael Schreier, Mary Pfaff, Antonia Lancaster, Mikihiro Nishimatsu, Miguel Berlanga, Gerry Colins, Tanya Morand, Gayle Hermick, Mark Marsters, Adrian Gollner, Marie-France Nitski, Kevin Benson, Michael Viner, Daniel Sharp, Louis Joncas, Nick Semanyk, Jason Grant-Henley, George Nitefor, Donna Eichel, Christopher Lea Dunning, David Cation, and Wendy Ennes...

Davis was on the Board of Directors for the Ottawa Art Gallery. He also worked with the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany on Berliner Tagebuch - an exhibition from the collection of the City of Berlin, and with Jose Mansilla Miranda who curated two Latin-American exhibitions with the assistance of the Chilean Embassy.