María Dávila holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Málaga and a PhD in Art History from the University of Granada. While still a student, she started to have solo exhibitions and to participate in group shows in major art centers in Andalusia. In 2014, she won the MálagaCrea 2014 First prize and was preselected two years consecutively to the BMW paintings Awards in 2015 and 2016.
Work
Her painting deals with the limits of the visible and the boundaries between fiction and reality. Based on a photographic or cinematographic material, María Dávila explores, more specifically, some aspects of her main theme in different series:
"Anagnórisis – La trama" seeks to highlight the underlying similitudes between fiction and documentary films, with an emphasis on the interpretive nature of our relationship to reality.
"Solsticio" deals with our inability to recognize our image and the non-correspondence between memory and lived experience. The series is based on an album of family photographs.
"Dramatis personae" is about the act of looking and being looked at through a dialogue with cinematographic form based on narrative construction such as Surrealist or Nouvelle Vague films.
"Post scriptum" is focused on the narrative construction in personal relationships, through a dialogue with cinema and theater.
2015: Dramatis personae, El Palmeral de las Sorpresas/Espacio Iniciarte, Málaga
2017-2018: Post scriptum, Palacio de los Condes de Gabia, Granada
Group exhibitions (selection)
2012: Stand Byes. End of studies Art Project Málaga 2012, Centro Cultural Provincial, Málaga
2014: MálagaCrea 2014. Muestra de Artes Visuales, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga ; UNDER35. Arte Emergente en Málaga, Galería de Arte Contemporáneo, Málaga
2015: 30th edition of BMW Painting Awards, Casa de Vacas del Retiro, Madrid; Neighbours III. Artistas de proximidad, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga ; Okupart. MAUS Málaga, Málaga city hall/CAC Málaga; Imago Mundi: Made in Spain, Foundation Luciano Benetton/Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga
2016: Tiempo de luz, Museo del Patrimonio Municipal, Málaga; 31st edition of BMW Painting Awards, Centro Galileo, Madrid
Awards (selection)
2012: First prize, VI Painting Prize of the University of Málaga
2013: Extraordinary Award, School of Fine Arts/University of Málaga
