Robert Davis and Michael Langlois are unusual not only because they collaborate but because their paintings, based on photographs, have a steamy, soft-edged sensuality opposed to the cool distance of most works painted from photos. A portrait of emperor Haile Selassie seems to vibrate with an almost out-of-control lushness and depth despite its apparently sedate dark greens and browns; captivated by its radiance, one almost forgets the significance of the subject.
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Davis and Langlois met while they were students at the School of the Art Institute; they began collaborating on paintings about two years later, in 1998. After discussing the subject matter and concept, they both paint the same canvas, sometimes but not often at the same time; their goal, Davis says, is to make the work “as beautiful and juicy as possible.” Other painters can be an influence–Haile Selassie is based on a photo that reminded them of Ingres’s seated portrait of Napoleon. But their work’s inspiration, Langlois says, comes more from the “sensuality” of the heavy metal and punk bands they both love. Among their favorites are High on Fire, the Melvins, and Black Sabbath, and it was the Bad Brains’ praise of Haile Selassie, whom Rastafarians consider a god, that helped spark their interest in Ethiopia’s former emperor. (They say in their statement that they’re not Rastafarians but do “partake in their sacrament.”)
The artists add color in thin, translucent layers, often of slightly different hues, using a centuries-old oil painting technique. The grass in Nirvana, which surrounds the child like a sea, began as a field of green umber, which they then partially removed to define each blade. Then they applied three or more layers of paint to each blade to enhance its luminosity. The grass has an ecstatic feel that, combined with the child’s expression, strongly conveys his pleasure.
118 N. Peoria
