Davon Brantley implements self-portraiture and psychology within his work. His work is inspired by the dissociative behaviors that happen as a result of traumatic experiences and the repetition involved with traumatic experiences. Davon’s interest in psychology and how traumatic experiences not only affect you in your childhood but also within adulthood comes from the fact that Davon experienced traumatic experiences growing up that have effected his development. This has caused Davon’s work to revolve around how these experiences through life can change your relationships with family, friends, loves, and meditations on sexuality, masculinity, race and etc,. Davon leads the audience through his mind that can take the form of theater , utilizes dramatic compositions and characters that act out certain emotions and themes in which he plays all of the roles of these characters. Davon’s work is all about the experience of an African American male acknowledging the trials of the living world and the effects it has on the mind.

With this use of implementing psychology within his work, referencing his own narrative we are presented three entities that contribute to the idea of switching at times of high stress. We are introduced to the states Dayven (dealing with happiness), Davon (dealing with sadness), and Donovan (love with no remorse). Each of these entities having their own way and perspective on how they deal with certain situations, but all being a part of one being. The names coming from actual mispronunciations of his name that he has been called in life.

Through oil painting, we are able to see Davon’s inspiration from the mid 18th-19th centuries from the Romantic period and Baroque painters such as Caravaggio. His work heavily employs naturalism through portraiture, with self portraiture being a main motif to depict these narratives and perform these different personality states. Drawing with charcoal, graphite, rubber cement and copper leaf, we are able to to feel the more emotional aspect of the art with aggressive mark making and tight rendering of the form. In comparison, with his use of oil painting, we are presented extreme lights and darks, intensifying what is or has happened within the scene. With saturated yellows, blues, pinks and purples we are brought into an internalized landscape that references the past; with his pallet coming directly from photographs from the past.

Though his work is completely autobiographical, Davon allows us to step foot into the narrative and think about the feelings that we may hide from or indulge ourselves too deeply in daily. The work exposes the potential dangers of using a specific state of mind to distract from certain events, the need for emotional regulation and what it is like to deal with different states of mind when it comes to highly intense situations. Thus through his compositions, Davon creates a mythos that tells of his experiences.

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