LISA CORINNE DAVIS What’s Going On?
WILLIAMSBURG BIANNUAL 20 South 4th Street Brooklyn, NY 11249
The Williamsburg Biannual gratefully acknowledges Miles McEnery Gallery for their support of this exhibition, “Lisa Corinne Davis: What’s Going On?” Mission of the Williamsburg Biannual: The Williamsburg Biannual celebrates the diversity and creativity of the artists and designers practicing in New York City through programs and exhibitions designed to make art accessible to people of all backgrounds, genders, races and socioeconomic status. Founded by creative professionals working in the arts and architecture and inspired by the city’s rich history of alternative art spaces, the Williamsburg Biannual promotes arts education and accessibility through interdisciplinary dialogue and experimentation. Our Values: Diversity and inclusion are integral to the programs and operations of the Williamsburg Biannual. The founders include women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, immigrants, and children of immigrants. We strive to create a more equitable and accessible world. We appreciate the beauty of different cultures, faiths, and ways of being. We understand the importance of representation and intend to use the organization as a platform to amplify the voices of artists and designers who live and work in New York City, whose work is deserving of wider recognition. We intend to apply these values at every level from our governance to future staffing, selection of exhibiting artists and speakers, and audience development. The founding board understands that access is created by removing barriers, thus allowing physical and social mobility. Regarding the facility, the building is wheelchair accessible with ramps, rails, and an elevator. In addition to program and exhibition opportunities for creatives, the Williamsburg Biannual offers high school and college internship programs, so students may gain professional experience in art administration and exposure to the wide range of career paths within the creative economy. Founding Board of Directors: Goil Amornvivat Thomas Morbitzer, Secretary & Treasurer Irene Mei Zhi Shum, Vice President Jorge A. Zapata, President Publication © Williamsburg Biannual and Miles McEnery Gallery Art © Lisa Corinne Davis Artwork Photography © Dan Bradica / © Christopher Burke Studios / ©JSP Art Photography Installation Photography © Andy Romer Photography Architectural Photography © L-Ines Beguiling Basis, 2023, on loan from A Benevolent Collector’s Eye Text by Irene Mei Zhi Shum Book Design by Laurie Mullowney
LISA CORINNE DAVIS What’s Going On?
26 September 2026 – 30 January 2027
WILLIAMSBURG BIANNUAL 20 South 4th Street Brooklyn, NY 11249
FOREWORD The Board of Directors of the Williamsburg Biannual are thrilled to launch our third year of operation with esteemed artist and renowned educator Lisa Corinne Davis. We are honored to present “What’s Going On?,” a solo exhibition of paintings and works on paper created in the past decade, between 2017 and 2026. When viewing Davis’s layered, geometric abstract compositions, coded narratives emerge that seem to map out networks, relationships, and invented geographies. Repeating lines, grids, and shapes are rigid and rigorous yet free flowing and open-ended, visually allowing multiple points of entry without settling on one specific area. Her art produces a thought-provoking and unexpected fusion of form, color, and subject matter. As an African American artist, Davis uses her practice to examine the intricate dynamics among race, history, and culture. Referencing Marvin Gaye’s 1971 now classic protest and social justice anthem as the exhibition title, “What’s Going On?” asks visitors to contemplate themes of order and chaos, rationality and irrationality, as well as contingency and classification. As a long-time professor of art first at Yale School of Art and currently at Hunter College as the co-director of the MFA program, she has taught, nurtured, and inspired innumerable emerging and mid-career artists, many who have remained in the Metropolitan New York area. Davis’s creative practice and career reflects WB’s organizational aspirations: our mission, values, and commitment to building community. For WB, “What’s Going On?” also is a celebration of the successful completion of two years of operation that achieved proof of concept, viability, and a solid portfolio of compelling programs and exhibitions. We look forward to continuing to serve New York City, its creative community, and the public-at-large; to meaningfully advance the arts, public discourse and the cultural life of our city. We welcome new and returning visitors. Through our programming, we hope to strengthen and expand our community! Thank you for your interest. We appreciate your support. Irene Mei Zhi Shum
Lisa Corinne Davis Studio, Brooklyn, NY
ARTIST STATEMENT | LISA CORINNE DAVIS Painting by nature is stubborn. I am trying to carve out a space that starts with fixed notions of racial perceptions and moves through contemporary modes of communication, which are fleet and fugitive, massively networked and hyper-extended. Yet paint on canvas remains for me as it ever was: static, material, refractory. Alert to the digital web in which we’re all caught, I am at the same time an ardent believer in the power of paint in all its irrefutable, sensual physicality. Nevertheless, I draw on the scaffolding of digital life by suggesting nets, nodes and portals, careening lines and implacable firewalls. The space I hope to create is like that behind the screen of an electronic device, indefinite and extra-dimensional. But my allusions are not restricted to the digital world. My nets could as easily be those of fishing, or of construction sites, or the linear armatures of maps. Is that a pixel or a mosaic? The circuitry is not always electronic. What is non-negotiable is the process by which the work comes about. The paintings begin on canvas, with paint. The decisions involved—the moves taken—are concerned with the marks being fast or slow, geometric or fluid, color-saturated or not. In creating spaces that defy navigation, the paintings grow accordingly, a strictly additive process: one mark following the next, rather than arising from formal drawings or sketches. The finished work can be fairly explosive, but the paintings are slow to make. It takes me a long time to determine what goes next. Spills are allowed, considered, enhanced, even given slight depth, both illusionistic and physical. Or they are dispensed with, partially or wholly. Sometimes the process involves scraping nearly everything away, providing a new surface on which to resume, mark by mark. “Painting responds to painting; the world doesn’t help very much, but leakage occurs between the dimension.” (Carroll Dunham) Stunted narratives and wandering pictures may open a way forward, but the constants of construction become variables of thought and feeling. The medium has the last word. By inviting a variety of associations, I hope viewers will question why they are making certain determinations, wanting things to land in a certain place. I am interested in our discomfort with flux - how we want things, including identity, to be fixed. My titles refer to emotional states (fervor, delirium), as well as cognitive positions (skepticism, mendacity). Alliteration and puns abound; these titles are suggestive rather than definitive. I wrestle, as a woman of color, with the presumptions made about race and its relationship to cultural production. Many African-American artists feel the obligation to represent Blackness. My position as an abstract painter allows me to manifest my own sense of self—my Black self—as an expression of self-determination and freedom, while avoiding an oppositional stance. I do not believe this position is “post-racial” since I am not sure that that is possible. I do not want to negate discussions of race and racism in art, but I do want to open the conversation by detaching Blackness from a narrow racial term, allowing it to be more pliable. Every language is constrained, culturally and personally, and abstraction is no exception. Preferences for—and symbolic associations to—such basic elements of its vocabulary as color, line, and spatial organization shift from one place and time to another, one individual to the next. I celebrate the riotously polyglot nature of abstract painting.
Phyletic Formulations, 2017
Acrylic and oil on panel 24 x 20 inches 61 x 51 cm
Conceivable Cozenge, 2022 Oil on canvas 48 x 36 inches 122 x 91 cm
Illusive Axiom, 2022
Oil on canvas 50 x 40 inches 127 x 102 cm
Literal Lunacy, 2022 Oil on canvas 40 x 30 inches 102 x 76 cm
Beguiling Basis, 2023
Oil on canvas 70 x 55 inches 178 x 140 cm On loan from A Benevolent Collector’s Eye
Contrived Calibration, 2023 Oil on canvas 48 x 36 inches 122 x 91 cm
Notional Position, 2023 Oil on canvas 70 x 55 inches 178 x 140 cm
Palpable Perspective, 2023
Oil on canvas 40 x 30 inches 102 x 76 cm
Simulated Scheme, 2023 Oil on canvas 70 x 55 inches 178 x 140 cm
Tempestuous Rubric, 2024
Oil on canvas 70 x 55 inches 178 x 140 cm
Transitory
Oil on 70 x 96 1778 x 2
Track, 2024
canvas 6 inches 244 cm
Categorical Contrivance, 2025
Oil on canvas 70 x 55 inches 178 x 140 cm
Convulsive Ca
Oil on c 72 x 100 183 x 2
alculation, 2025
canvas 0 inches 254 cm
Dogmatic Deceit, 2025
Oil on canvas 80 x 60 inches 203 x 152 cm
Illusive Location, 2025 Oil on canvas 80 x 60 inches 203 x 152 cm
Notional Adage, 2025
Oil on canvas 90 x 65 inches 229 x 165 cm
Temporal Terrain, 2025 Oil on canvas 80 x 60 inches 203 x 152 cm
Volatile Precept, 2025
Oil on canvas 70 x 55 inches 178 x 140 cm
Duplicitous Dimension, 2026
Oil on canvas 40 x 30 inches 102 x 76 cm
Ephemeral Evidence, 2026 Oil on canvas 42 x 30 inches 107 x 76 cm
Random Register, 2026 Oil on canvas 72 x 58 inches 183 x 147 cm
Visible Enigma, 2026
Oil on canvas 38 x 26 inches 97 x 66 cm
Fabricated Format, 2024
Acrylic paint, marker, and ink on paper 19 3/4 x 19 inches 50 x 48 cm
Tricky Position, 2024
Acrylic paint, marker, and ink on paper 25 x 22 inches 64 x 56 cm
BIOGRAPHY LISA CORINNE DAVIS (b. 1958 in Baltimore, MD) received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY and her Master of Fine Arts from Hunter College, New York, NY.
Since 1993, Davis has held teaching positions at some of the top art schools in the United States; she is currently Professor of Art at Hunter College. Davis is a member of the National Academy of Design, a 2022 Guggenheim Fellow in the Fine Arts, and a 2024 fellowship recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts/New York State Council on the Arts. Additionally in 2024, Davis was commissioned by the MTA Arts & Design Program to create several permanent mosaic murals for the 68th Street-Hunter College subway station, which is a site of particular resonance for Davis, having taught at Hunter College for over two decades. She has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Esther Massry Gallery, The College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY; Farmer Family Gallery, The Ohio State University at Lima, Lima, OH; Galerie Gris, Hudson, NY; Lehman College Art Gallery, Lehman College, Bronx, NY; Longwood Gallery, Bronx Council on the Arts, Bronx, NY; Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, NY; and Zolla/ Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL, among others. Davis’s work has been included in institutional group exhibitions at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY; The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI; The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum & Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY; The Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation, New York, NY; Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY; New York Studio School, New York, NY; Oakland University Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester, MI; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY; and the Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, among others. Her work may be found in the collections of the Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C.; New York Public Library, New York, NY; Philadelphia Museum, Philadelphia, PA; School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Sheldon Museum of Art, University of NebraskaLincoln, Lincoln, NE; Stanford University, Stanford, CA; U.S. Embassy, Lomé, Togo; U.S. Embassy, Yaoundé, Cameroon, and elsewhere. The artist lives and works in Brooklyn and Hudson, NY.
CURRICULUM VITAE LISA CORINNE DAVIS Born in 1958 in Baltimore, MD Lives and works in Brooklyn and Hudson, NY EDUCATION 1983 MFA, Hunter College, New York, NY 1980 BFA, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY 1978 Cornell University, Ithaca, NY SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2026 “What’s Going On?,” Williamsburg Biannual, Brooklyn, NY “Tangible Tale,” The Mayor Gallery, London, UK 2025 “Syllogism,” Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY “Adjustments,” Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, NY 2024 Weber Fine Art, Greenwich, CT 2023 “Convulsive Calculations,” Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, NY “You Are Here?,” Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY 2020 “All Shook Up,” Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, NY
2018 “Capricious Calculations,” Spanierman Modern, Miami, FL “Turbulent Terrain,” Esther Massry Gallery, The College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY 2017 “No THERE there…,” Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL Galerie Gris, Hudson, NY “Location...location...,” Farmer Family Gallery, The Ohio State University at Lima, Lima, OH 2015 Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, NY “New Paintings,” Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, NY 2014 Galerie Gris, Hudson, NY 2012 Peter Marcelle Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY 2011 “Abstract Infidelities,” Gavin Spanierman, Ltd, New York, NY 2010 “Bona Fide Disorder,” Lesley Heller Workspace, New York, NY 2007 “Facts & Fiction,” June Kelly Gallery, New York, NY 2005 “person, place or thing?,” June Kelly Gallery, New York, NY 2002 “New Work,” June Kelly Gallery, New York, NY
2001 “Index,” Lehman College Art Gallery, Lehman College, Bronx, NY 2000 “Ontologies,” June Kelly Gallery, New York, NY 1998 “Chartings,” June Kelly Gallery, New York, NY “Indirection,” Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ 1997 “Essential Traits,” Longwood Art Gallery, Bronx Council On The Arts, Bronx, NY 1994 Dell Pryor Galleries, Detroit, MI “Transparent Brown,” Halsey Gallery, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC “Layered,” Municipal Gallery, Atlanta, GA 1993 Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA “Mixed Media,” Print Club, Philadelphia, PA TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS 2022 “DUAL: Lisa Corinne Davis & Shirley Kaneda,” New York Studio School, New York, NY 2016 “Alternative Dimension: Lisa Corinne Davis, Maureen Hoon” (curated by Michelle Loh), Project: ARTspace, New York, NY 2013 “Terra Incognita,” Storefront Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2026 “On, In, Off the Grid,” DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY “Loïs Mailou Jones: Sphere of Influence,” Center of Knowhere, Oak Bluffs, MA “Charged Field,” G-Town Arts, Georgetown, CT “MONAD: every part matters to the whole,” Sweet Lorraine Gallery, Brooklyn, NY “Line / Form,” Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY “Human NATURED,” Lyceum Gallery, Suffolk Community College, Riverhead, NY “Some of My Favorite Things: A Winter Group Show,” Brigitte Mulholland, Paris, France Colombia Museum of Art, Colombia, SC 2025 “Intersecting Realities: Endless Returns, Ever in Flux, Never Complete,” Rockefeller Capital Management, New York, NY “System and Sequence: Pattern and Ornament in Contemporary Art,” Oakland University Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester, MI “Intersections & Diversions” (curated by Erika Diamond), Strohl Art Center, Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY “Between the Lines,” Kathyrn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY “Beauty is a Blast: For Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe” (curated by Christian Haub), Art Cake, Brooklyn, NY “La Banda 2025,” Tappeto Volante Gallery, Brooklyn, NY “Winter Garden,” RUTHANN, Catskill, NY “Winter Group Exhibition,” Weber Fine Art, Greenwich, CT 2024 “All Bangers, All The Time: 25th Anniversary Exhibition,” Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY
“ALL small,” Pamela Salisbury, Hudson, NY “On Drawing,” Orwell’s Garden, Brooklyn, NY “The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition,” Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY “191st Annual: Academy Style,” National Academy of Design, New York, NY “Right is Right,” Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA “SYNCOPATION,” G-Town Arts, Georgetown, CT “Century: 100 Years of Black Art at MAM,” Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ 2023 “Cyclical Bloom,” Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA “Two Years and Change,” Olympia, New York, NY “Come a Little Closer,” DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY 2022 “American Visions II: The Art of Collecting,” Brown and Juanita C. Ford Art Gallery, Wayne County Community College District, Detroit, MI “Given Time” (curated by Molly Sullivan), The Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation, New York, NY “Between States,” M. David & Co., Brooklyn, NY “Summer Drift,” Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY 2021 “Exuberance: Dialogues in African American Abstract Painting,” Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA “Un-Representation: Sanford Biggers, Lisa Corinne Davis, Jack Whitten,” The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum & Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY “Point of Departure: Abstractions 1958–Present,” Sheldon Museum of Art, University of NebraskaLincoln, Lincoln, NE
“I Dream in Black & White,” Olympia, New York, NY “What’s It All About,” Jenkins Johnson Projects, Brooklyn, NY “Multilayer Vision 20/20,” Schloss Plüschow, Upahl, Germany “The Burning Kite,” Geary Contemporary, Millerton, NY “Seeing Past the Future” (online exhibition), PollockKrasner House and Study Center, Artland “Hope For Bluer Skies,” The Mayor Gallery, London, UK “Genius Stable” (curated by Jane Fine), Store-forRent Gallery, Brooklyn, NY “Year of the Unicorn,” Store-for-Rent Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2020 “Art for Your Collection,” The Catherine Fosnot Art Gallery and Center, New London, CT “A Place To Visit, vol.2,” Jip Gallery, New York, NY “The Pursuit of Aesthetics: Artwork Created During Quarantine,” Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY “African American Abstraction: Frank Bowling, Lisa Corinne Davis, Felrath Hines & Sam Middleton,” Spanierman Modern, Miami, FL “The Metaphysics of Abstraction III,” Campus Center Gallery, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, HI 2019 “At The Core Club: New Members of The National Academy of Design,” The Core Club, New York, NY “Dance With Me” (curated by Kyle Staver), Zurcher Gallery, New York, NY 2018 “Turbulence,” Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Gallery, New York, NY “Known: Unknown,” New York Studio School, New York, NY “Modes of Mapping,” Shirley Fiterman Art Center, New York, NY
“Lisa Corinne Davis, Sam Middleton, Norman Lewis, Herb Gentry,” Featherstone Art Center, Martha’s Vineyard, MA “Benders,” Real Estate Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY “MacDowell Now: Recent Abstract Painting,” Curator Gallery, New York, NY “Mixed Bag,” Real Estate Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY “The Nature Lab,” LABspace, Hillsdale, NY 2017 “Lack of Location is My Location,” Koenig & Clinton, Brooklyn, NY “Solace...” (artist organized pop-up exhibition), New York, NY “Text/ure,” Shirley Fiterman Art Gallery, Borough of Manhattan Community College, New York, NY “Holding it Together,” 68 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY “Taconic North,” LABspace, Hillsdale, NY “The Bedroom,” Joyce Goldstein Gallery, Chatham, NY 2016 “Seeking Space: Making The Future” (curated by Julie Torres), David & Schweitzer Contemporary, Brooklyn, NY “On the Waterfront” (pop-up exhibition), Brooklyn, NY 2015 “NEW NEW YORK: Abstract Painting in the 21st Century,” The Art Gallery, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI “Beyond Boundaries,” Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT “Keep Out,” Lesley Heller Workspace, New York, NY 2014 “Soccer Mom,” Lehman College Art Gallery, Lehman College, Bronx, NY “Awkward Phase” (pop-up exhibition), Brooklyn, NY “Nation II At the Alamo,” Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2013 “Terra Incognita,” Storefront Ten Eyck Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY “The Nature of Women: An Exhibition of 6 Women Artists,” The Mayor Gallery, London, UK Lehman College Art Gallery, Lehman College, Bronx, NY “Decisiveness,” RuSalon (hosted by helper), Brooklyn, NY “Contemporary Cartographies,” Lehman College Art Gallery, Lehman College, Bronx, NY 2012 “Anywhere But Here,” Pelham Arts Center, Pelham, NY “Two River,” One River School of Art + Design, Englewood, NJ 2011 “Driven to Abstraction,” Von Lintel Gallery, New York, NY “Time and Again,” McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL “Paper Jam,” Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY 2010 “When I Come Around: The Artists Around Me,” Apartment Show, Brooklyn, NY Craven Gallery, Martha’s Vineyard, MA 2009 “Eye/World” (curated by Emily Cheng and Michelle Loh), Triple Candie, New York, NY “The Black and White Show” (curated by AMP Tracks), Collective Hardware, New York, NY “Gallery Selections,” Spanierman Modern, New York, NY 2008 “Lisa Corinne Davis, Edward Evans & Pinkney Herbert,” Allen Projects, New York, NY
“The Faculty Show,” Times Square Gallery, Hunter College, New York, NY 2007 “Art of Collecting,” Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI “Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture,” American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY “Five Contemporary Voices,” Delta Arts Center, Winston-Salem, NC “Universe of Art,” Credit Suisse First Boston, New York, NY “Rhythm of Structure: The Mathematical Aesthetic,” Wilbur Jennings Gallery, New York, NY “Glasgow School of Art/Hunter College Art Department, Works on Paper by Painting Faculty,” The Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery, Hunter College, New York, NY 2003 “Works on Paper: Variations and Themes” (curated by Linda Gottesfeld), Pace University Art Gallery, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY “High and Inside” (curated by Maurice Tuchman), Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY “On The Record,” Skylight Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2001 “Paper Remix: Dieu Donné Workspace Program: 1995-2000” (curated by Edwin Ramoran), New York, NY “Buying Time,” New York Foundation for the Arts, Sotheby’s Galleries, New York, NY 2000 “Book Art 12: Artist’s Books from the Library & Research Center,” National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
1999 “Waxing Poetic: Encaustic Art in America,” The Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; traveled to the Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN 1998 “Black New York Artists of the 20th Century: Selections from the Schomburg Center Collection,” Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY 1997 “Generations: A.I.R. 25th Anniversary,” A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY 1996 “Artist in the Marketplace Benefit Exhibition,” Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY “Prints,” Dell Pryor Galleries, Detroit, MI “Allegory and Identity,” Visceglia Art Center, Caldwell University, Caldwell, NJ “With All Deliberate Speed: Revisiting Race and Education,” Aljira: A Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ 1995 Dieu Donné Papermill, New York, NY 1994 “Resisting Categories, Finding Common Ground,” City Without Walls, Newark, NJ Gallery Annext, New York, NY “Identity and Culture, African-American Heritage Exhibition,” Barrett House Galleries, Poughkeepsie, NY 1993 “Artist’s Books” (curated by Tom Butter), Butters Gallery, Portland, OR “AIM Artists” (curated by Lydia Yee and Marisol Nieves), Bronx Museum of The Arts, Bronx, NY
“Child’s Play” (curated by Holly Block), Art In General, New York, NY “Nancy Bowen, Rosann Berry, & Lisa Corinne Davis” (curated by Rosann Berry), Organization of Independent Artists, New York, NY “Emerging Artists” (curated by Corinne Jennings), Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, NY Granary Books, New York, NY 1992 “Utopia/Distopia” (curated by Kathleen Edwards), Print Club, Philadelphia, PA Pyramid Atlantic Workshop, Washington, D.C. Okeanos Gallery, Berkeley, CA 1991 Artist’s Space, New York, NY 1990 Artist’s Space, New York, NY CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2011 “Don’t Fence Me In, or Out: Katherine Behar, Susan Budde, Dawn Frasch, Jaeeun Lee, Suko Presseau, Satomi Shirai, Amanda Valdez, Sarah Young” (curated by Lisa Corinne Davis), Lesley Heller Workspace, New York, NY PERFORMANCE 2017 “Future St.” by Alexandro Segade, The Richard B. Fisher Center for The Performing Arts at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY “Future St.” by Alexandro Segade, The Oculus Hall, The Broad, Los Angeles, CA AWARDS 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award, Friends School of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD
2025 “Material Girl” (curated by Lisa Corinne Davis), Athens Cultural Center, Athens, NY
2024 Artist Fellowship in Painting, New York Foundation for the Arts/New York State Council on the Arts, New York, NY
2016 “Representing Rainbows” (curated by Lisa Corinne Davis), Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, NY
2022 Fine Arts Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, New York, NY
2013 “Sanford Wurmfeld: Color Visions 1966-2013” (organized by Susan Crile and Lisa Corinne Davis), Times Square Gallery, Hunter College, New York, NY
2021 Arts and Letters Award in Art, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY 2020 Grant Recipient, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, NY
2019 Nominee, Anonymous Was A Woman Award, New York, NY 2018 Artist Fellowship in Painting, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY Nominee, Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, New York, NY 2017 National Academician, National Academy of Design, New York, NY Presidential Travel Grant, Hunter College, New York, NY 2013 Nominee, Anonymous Was A Woman Award, New York, NY 2006 Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY 2001 Biennial Competition Award Winners, The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, New York, NY Artist in the Marketplace, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY 2000 Artist Fellowship in Painting, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY 1997 Fellowship in Works on Paper, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY Workspace Program, Dieu Donné Papermill, Brooklyn, NY
1996 Project Room, Bronx Council on the Arts, Bronx, NY 1995 - 1996 Visual Artist Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C. 1994 - 1999 Board Member, Art in General, New York, NY 1994 - 1996 The College Council, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY 1993 - 1994 Advisory Committee for Exhibitions, Art in General, New York, NY 1993 Faculty Development Grant, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY 1992 Regional Fellowship, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Baltimore, MD COMMISSIONS 2025 68th Street-Hunter College Station, Subway Mosaic, MTA Arts & Design Program, New York, NY 2024 Penguin/Random House, New York, NY RESIDENCIES + APPRENTICESHIPS 2026 Civitella Visual Arts Fellowship, Civitella Ranieri Residency, Perugia, Italy
2025 Alma B. C. Schapiro Residency for a Female Painter, Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY
2000 Master Printer Residency, Printmaking Council of New Jersey, Branchburg, NJ
2024 Residency, BAU Institute, Cassis, France Visiting Artist, Anderson Ranch, Snowmass Village, CO Residency, Sea Breeze Artist Residency, Block Island, RI 2023 Residency, Anderson Ranch, Snowmass Village, CO
1982 Apprenticeship, Jack Tworkov
2019 Fellowship, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Brown Foundation Fellows Program, Dora Maar House, Ménerbes, France 2017 Fellowship, MacDowell, Peterborough, NH 2016 Summer Residency Award, Siena Arts Institute, Siena, Italy Residency, Corporation of Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY 2011 Fellowship, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Brown Foundation Fellows Program, Dora Maar House, Ménerbes, France 2010 Residency, Corporation of Yaddo, Saratoga Spring, NY Residency, The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, NY 2003 Residency, Corporation of Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY
1981-1982 Apprenticeship, Elizabeth Murray 1979-1982 Apprenticeship, Jennifer Bartlett TEACHING EXPERIENCE HUNTER COLLEGE, THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, NEW YORK, NY September 2024 -Present Professor of Art September 2021 - August 2024 Co-MFA Director July 2019 - January 2021 Interim MFA Director August 2018 - Present Head of Painting August 2014 - Present Head of Drawing June 2009 - January 2010 Co-MFA Director June 2007 - January 2008 Acting Director of Graduate Studies January 2005 - July 2014 Associate Professor September 2002 - December 2004 Assistant Professor SCHOOL OF ART, CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION, CHAUTAUQUA, NY July 2018 Visiting Critic July 2015 Visiting Critic THE MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ART, BALTIMORE, MD April 2018 Visiting Critic September 2011 - May 2013 Visiting Critic January 2005 - December 2006 Visiting Critic
YALE UNIVERSITY, NEW HAVEN, CT
SELECT COLLECTIONS
September 2002 - May 2004 Critic July 1998 - August 2002 Assistant Professor of Painting and Printmaking July 1997 - June 1998 Visiting Assistant Professor of Painting/Printmaking Summer 1996 Visiting Artist, Norfolk Summer Program Summer 1995 Drawing Instructor
Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN, NEW YORK, NY
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Summer 1997 Visiting Professor, Center for Advanced Design (in affiliation with Parsons School of Design), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia September 1995 - May 1998 Special Part-Time Faculty, Foundation Department, Drawing September 1993 - May 1997 Coordinator, Design Studio October 1992 - June 1993 Academic Advisor January 1992 - May 1995 Foundation Department, Drawing and 3-D Design, Part-Time Faculty
JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, New York, NY
COOPER UNION SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE, NEW YORK, NY October 1993 to May 1994 Drawing Instructor, Outreach Program
Beinecke Collection, Yale University, New Haven, CT Goldman Sachs, New York, NY Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Mills College at Northeastern University, Northeastern University, Oakland, CA Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, New York, NY National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C. National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. New York Public Library, New York, NY Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL Sheldon Museum of Art, University of NebraskaLincoln, Lincoln, NE Stanford University, Stanford, CA Time Warner, New York, NY University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA University of Chicago, Chicago, IL University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO University of Miami, Miami, FL University of Rhode Island, South Kingston, RI U.S. Embassy, Lomé, Togo U.S. Embassy, Yaoundé, Cameroon Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK Visa Corporation, San Francisco, CA
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Board of Directors of the Williamsburg Biannual would like to acknowledge our friends and supporters, who helped make “What’s Going On?” possible, especially artist Lisa Corinne Davis, her studio assistant Eugina Song, and the team at Miles McEnery Gallery, including Miles McEnery, Alissa Schoenfeld, Julia Schlank, Hannah Smith, Laurie Mullowney, Charlotte Shiah, Lillian Russo, and Nathan Grupposo; Andy Romer Photography for installation photography; Dan Bradica, Christopher Burke, and JSP Art Photography for object photography; L-Ines for architectural photography; and the New York Council of Nonprofits and Gwynn V. Jones of Council Services Plus for their expertise on policy and nonprofit administration. In addition, we are grateful to A Benevolent Collector’s Eye for the loan of Beguiling Basis, a critical artwork that anchors the exhibition and is displayed prominently on the main floor gallery. About The Williamsburg Biannual: The Williamsburg Biannual is a new artist space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that mounts two exhibitions per year, allowing exhibiting artists to show a comprehensive body of work for an extended period of time. Exhibitions are complemented by related programs – music and dance performances, screenings, readings and talks. Located at 20 South 4th Street, steps from the iconic Williamsburg Bridge and Domino Park, the Williamsburg Biannual’s home is an adaptive reuse and expansion of a 1920’s 10,000sf warehouse, designed by JAZ Architect. The Biannual’s premises include over 7,500sf of public gathering space, a black box event space, an informal auditorium and casual seating area, double height galleries and a private outdoor space. Of this, 4,000sf is dedicated exhibition space, spread over three levels. Natural light throughout the building creates a serene environment, an urban oasis for art viewing, contemplation, discussion, and enjoyment. About Miles McEnery Gallery: Miles McEnery Gallery is a leading contemporary art gallery with four locations occupying 25,000 square feet in the Chelsea district of New York City. Since its inception in 1999, the gallery has grown physically and conceptually, currently representing over 40 multigenerational contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds, media, and practices. Miles McEnery Gallery is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, scholarship, and connoisseurship. The gallery publishes significant catalogs to accompany its exhibitions and has been instrumental in the support of artist monographs. Additionally, it regularly assists in the organization of institutional exhibitions and facilitates museum acquisitions. Williamsburg Biannual info@williamsburgbiannual.org williamsburgbiannual.org
Miles McEnery Gallery info@milesmcenery.com milesmcenery.com
Published on the occasion of the exhibition
LISA CORINNE DAVIS What’s Going On?
September 26, 2026 - January 30, 2027 Williamsburg Biannual 20 South 4th Street Brooklyn, NY 11249 www.williamsburgbiannual.org www.milesmcenery.com Cover: Random Register (detail), 2026