Alonzo Davis’ career as an artist spans four decades. His talent with art emerged in elementary school when he took a drawing class from an architect student at Tuskegee Institute’s Chambliss Children’s House Elementary School. He attended Pepperdine University and earned a BFA and Masters in Fine Art from Otis College of Art & Design.
At the suggestion of artist and former teacher Charles White, Davis began to develop bodies of work – much of it inspired by his travels to Africa, the Caribbean and American southwest.
His involvement in the California mural movement culminated in the 1984 Olympic Murals project, which Davis initiated, coordinated and participated in as an artist. His “Eye on ‘84” is one of 10 murals on the walls of the downtown Harbor Freeway that served as a visual lead-in to the city of Los Angeles during the Olympic Games.
The departure from Los Angeles to work with the Sacramento Metropolitan Art Commission in 1987 provided Davis for the first time in years, unfettered time in the studio.
Five public art commission, among them – a duo of tile murals for the Boston Subway, a mixed media installation for Atlanta International Airport and a maze-inspired terrazzo floor design for the Memphis/Shelby County Library in Tennessee, allowed him to experiment with a range of unfamiliar materials, ceramic tiles, aluminum, tar paper, neon, terrazzo and wood, which set the stage for his next series.
His work is inspired by artists’ Romare Bearden, Kandinsky and Picasso. (Source)
