Bio
The aesthetics of power, authority and desire constructed by governing societies push me to develop visual means of resistance. My practice communicates viscerally and symbolically by creating new visual lexicons that combat the prevailing modes of signification.
Watne received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1994 and his MFA at Maryland Institute College of Art in 2013. He has been awarded the Charlotte Street Foundation Award, ArtsKC Inspiration Grant, Avenue of Arts Municipal Arts Grant, Art in the Loop Public Arts Grant and was a resident of the Studios Inc. Residency Program. Watne holds a fulltime lecturer position at University of Missouri Kansas City, where he teaches Painting and Drawing, and is also the head curator and director of the UMKC Gallery of Art. He currently resides in Kansas City.
Solo Exhibitions
2017 Picture on the Wall, Haw Contemporary, Kansas City, MO (details)
2017 Picture the Wall, Western State Colorado University, Gunnison, CO
2015 Reify/Deify, Plug Projects, Kansas City, MO
2013 Cathexis, Decker Gallery, MICA, Baltimore, MD
2011 Consumer Foreplay, The Studios Inc., Kansas City, MO
2010 The Long Winter, UCM Gallery of Art, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO
2010 The Woods, Empire Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2008 Herd or Pack, Cocoon Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2008 Life Is A Collision, The Studios Inc., Kansas City, MO
Selected Group Exhibitions
2017 Every Street, Haw Contemporary, Kansas City, MO (details)
2017 A Decade of Dazzle, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS
2017 With Liberty and Justice for Some, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2015 National Group Exhibition, Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2015 You People, Haw Contemporary, Kansas City, MO (details)
2015 Broadsheets, Greenlease Gallery, Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO
2014 On Behalf of One's Obsessions, Haw Contemporary, Kansas City, MO (details)
2013 Angela Fraleigh and Davin Watne: New Work, Rachael Cozad Fine Art, Kansas City, MO
2012 Studios Inc. Group Exhibition, The Studios Inc. Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2011 2nd & 3rd Year Group Show, Pinkard Gallery, MICA, Baltimore, MD
2011 Studios Inc. Group Exhibition, The Studios Inc. Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2010 Painting Zombies, Nash Gallery, The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
2010 Black and Blue, Day Gallery, The University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD
2009 Happy Tree Friends, La Esquina Gallery, curated by Kate Hackman, Kansas City, MO
2008 Animalicious, Rio Hondo Community College Gallery, Whittier, CA
2007 Beast, Greenlease Gallery, Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO
2006 I-70 Series, Hunt Gallery, Webster University, St. Louis, MO
2005 Decentralizing the Center, Honolulu Hawaii / Kansas City, MO
2004 White, Mikorp Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2004 Dangerous Art, New Visions Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
2002 Art Point, Basel Miami Beach, Miami, FL
2002 Charlotte St. Fund Exhibition, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS