Author Description

This volume is the first monograph devoted to Woods Davy and collects the works made by the artist from 1978 to the present, highlighting their context, the stories connected to their creation, and the artistic development to which they bear witness. Woods’s growth is in fact marked by an evolution: his early practice is characterized by bold architectural abstractions and monumental installations, while his later work possesses a more reflective character. These latter pieces are compositions of smooth, rounded stones that appear to float in the air, defying gravity. The publication also focuses on an in-depth analysis of his Cantamar series. However, Woods’s work also draws upon ideas derived from his passion for art collecting, in particular the masks used by the Songye and Luba peoples that inhabit the south eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He in fact owns what is certainly the most important private collection of Kifwebe masks. The connection between these two poles around which Woods’s life revolves is quite simple: in both there is a negation of the natural order. On the one hand, stones float like clouds, while on the other, men are transformed into a hybrid of human, animal, and spirit.