CHERIE BENNER DAVIS

This body of work is a playful riff on the botanical forms and cultural associations of Cannabis psychedelia and hard-edge painting, and is made in response to the significantly shifting social acceptance and broader legalization of the Cannabis herb by setting out to create optically active compositions. The works draw from a diverse range of visual sources. from the rose windows of Medieval cathedrals to contemporary fractal theory and oscillate between hard-edged abstraction, magical realism, and pure sensation. The paintings posit the role of the artist in visualizing the shared social phenomenon as political and cultural boundaries change rapidly. The images are highly stylized and utilize arbitrary, saturated colors—a psychedelic color palette that references aspects of Southern California counterculture of the 1960s.