Meet Isis A. Davis-Marks

Today we’d like to introduce you to Isis A. Davis-Marks.

Hi Isis, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. 
I’ve always used art and writing as a means to express myself. I started creating drawings, short stories, poems, sculptures, paintings, and textiles at a young age, but I did not expect to pursue a career in the arts until I became older. Though I took art classes in middle school and high school, I didn’t begin to seriously study visual art until I became a painting major in college. Once I graduated, I continued to make paintings, textiles, and drawings and eventually began to show work at galleries. I also developed my writing practice at the same time and wrote reviews of exhibitions and profiles of artists. I feel that my work is inherently interdisciplinary, and both my writing and art-making inform one another. 

I’m fortunate enough to live in New York City, where I’ve met several other artists, curators, and critics. This has helped me to form a group of like-minded people, and I’ve felt free to experiment and try new things. Some creators who I’ve met along the way who are doing innovative work include Lena Ruth Schwartz, Lauryn Levette, Na’ye Perez, Weihui Lu, Eden Chinn, Sammy Bennett, Aidan Wihite, Shameekia Shantel Johnson, Dani Brito, Kiana Mickles, Yume Murphy, and many more. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve had some health issues—in 2012, I developed a repetitive strain injury from overwork, and I’ve also been dealing with some other ailments recently. I also lost quite a few relatives around 2021, so I was having a difficult time navigating some of the physical and emotional obstacles that I’ve faced over the past few years. Collectively, we’re also going through a tumultuous political time, and I’m very concerned about recent events that have happened in Palestine and the societal trauma that we’ve gone through during the pandemic. Creating visual art has truly become a beacon of light in my life: it has helped me to heal both spiritually and physically, and I feel that my oeuvre is an extension of myself. It allows me to process my own emotions as well as make social and political commentary. Many of my recent paintings have explored interpersonal relationships, the links between one’s body and one’s mind, the limitations of Western philosophy, the restorative properties of food, current events, and natural healing practices. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I primarily work in painting, writing, drawing, and textiles. I also tutor in my day job. (I teach a lot of standardized testing, writing, and math.) I think that my practice is unique because I’m actively covering contemporary artists while showing my own work in New York City, and I believe that this has given me a unique voice as an arts writer. I’m most proud of the fact that I’m finally finding a balance between my work and my life, which is something that I’ve struggled with a lot in the past. I’m trying to get better at taking care of myself because I hope that this artistic journey will be a long one. In her seminal 1988 essay collection A Burst of Light, the poet Audre Lorde wrote, “Overextending myself is not stretching myself. I had to accept how difficult it is to monitor the difference. Necessary for me as cutting down on sugar. Crucial. Physically. Psychically. Caring for myself is not self-indulgence; it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” This quote resonates with me deeply. I believe that this is also true for me because research is also important to my practice, and I also want to make sure that I give myself enough time to read and carefully consider which objects I select for my paintings. Life outside of the studio is important. 

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was somewhat isolated as a child: I grew up with a single mother in the South Bronx. And I technically have a half-brother, but I was estranged from my father’s side of the family, so I grew up as an only child. I also didn’t have many cousins my age or friends who lived nearby, and my mom worked full-time, which meant that I spent a lot of time alone or with adults in my earlier years. I’d often draw, paint, sew, and knit to entertain myself, and my grandfather frequently took me to exhibitions at institutions around the city, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney, and the Museum of Natural History. (I especially loved the hall of gems and the giant jellyfish at the later museum; the planetarium is also a personal favorite of mine.) 

As I entered adolescence, my interests began to shift towards math and science, so I attended a magnet school that specializes in STEM education and took classes in biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental science. (I feel like things are finally coming full circle because I’ve been exploring botanical illustrations and color theory in my current work.) I was always a very serious student, and I had little interest in sports or physical activities, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to integrate yoga, pilates, and dance into my routine. (I’ve discovered that I need to stretch and exercise as my paintings get bigger because my practice has gotten more physical as time has progressed.) When I was a teenager, I read a lot of fiction, philosophy, and plays, and some of my favorite books at the time were Sula by Toni Morrison, No Exit by Jean Paul-Sartre; Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis; Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzche; and Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault. I drew a lot at night when I was in high school, and when I did that, I listened to indie music (Arctic Monkeys, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MGMT, Radiohead), jazz (Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Amy Winehouse); rap (Lil’ Kim, Jay-Z, a Tribe Called Quest, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, the Wu-Tang Clan); and classical (Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Claude Debussy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)…these are things that I still do today. I also did speech and debate in high school, and I find that my early experience with public speaking and academic research helps when I give talks write articles now. I think that I’ve become a bit more open, talkative, and accepting as I’ve gotten older, but I still remain dedicated to craft and scholarship. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://isisdavismarks.com/
• Instagram: @isisdavismarks
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/isis-davis-marks-017904181
• Twitter: @isisdavismarks

Image Credits
Aiden Wilhite