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[2] and was preselected two years consecutively to the
BMW paintings Awards in 2015 and 2016.[3]
Work
Her painting deals with the limits of the visible and the boundaries between fiction and reality.[4] Based on a photographic or cinematographic material (family archives, still from movies or documentary films), María Dávila explores, more specifically, some aspects of her main theme in different series:
"Anagnórisis – La trama" (2014) seeks to highlight the underlying similitudes between fiction and documentary films, with an emphasis on the interpretive nature of our relationship to reality.[5]
"Solsticio" (2015) 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" (2015) is about the act of looking and being looked at through a dialogue with cinematographic form based on narrative (de)construction such as Surrealist or Nouvelle Vague films.[6]
"Post scriptum" is focused on the narrative construction in personal relationships, through a dialogue with cinema and theater.[7]
Solo exhibitions
2013: Después, el silencio, Centro Cultural Provincial, Málaga
2014: Anagnórisis - La trama, School of Fine Arts, Málaga
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 (CAC Málaga); UNDER35. Arte Emergente en Málaga, Galería de Arte Contemporáneo (GACMA), 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 (CAC Málaga); Okupart. MAUS Málaga, Málaga city hall/CAC Málaga; Imago Mundi: Made in Spain, Foundation Luciano Benetton/Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga (CAC Málaga)
2016: Tiempo de luz, Museo del Patrimonio Municipal (MUPAM), 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
2014: First Prize, MálagaCrea 2014
2015: Preselected for BMW Painting Award
2016: Preselected for BMW Painting Award
Bibliography
María Dávila – Después, el silencio, text by Marina Bravo Casero, Council of Málaga/Department of Culture, 2013.
María Dávila – Anagnórisis-La trama, text by Pedro Osakar Olaiz, School of Fine Arts, Málaga, 2014.
ISBN978-8494303425
María Dávila – Dramatis personae, text by Víctor Borrego, Government of Andalusia/Department of Culture, 2015.
ISBN978-8499591506
María Dávila - Post scriptum, texts by Luis Puelles and María Dávila, City of Granada/Department of Culture, 2017.
ISBN978-84-7807-590-4