New York photographer Tim Davis is concerned with light and his desire to “picture” light in its various manifestations. In Permanent Collection, the series featured at the KMA, Davis photographs famous paintings from museum collections. He then prints them almost actual size so that they become a representation of the original work. However, it is the reflection of light off the surface of the paintings that pinpoints the difference between the actual painting and photograph. The glare that Davis captures on the paintings’ surfaces provides the paintings with an unexpected luminescence that adds to and sometimes changes the energy of the piece by obscuring one’s view of the painting.

Davis received degrees from Bard College in New York and Yale University. His work has been featured in numerous publications, including The New York Times Magazine, ArtForum, and Art in America; and is in the collections of The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and The Walker Art Center, among others.