Davina Semo is an American artist (b. 1981, Washington DC) working in sculpture. She completed her MFA at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

in 2006 and a BA in Visual Arts from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in 2003.

Life and work

Semo is best known for sculpture that embraces industrial construction materials like glass, concrete, and chain. She has exhibited solo shows of her work at galleries Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, Marlborough Gallery, New York, and Ribordy Thetaz, Geneva, among others. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the

San Francisco Arts Commission The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) is the City agency that champions the arts as essential to daily life by investing in a vibrant arts community, enlivening the urban environment and shaping innovative cultural policy in San Francisco, Cal ...

, Contemporary Jewish Museum (San Francisco), the Sculpture Center (New York), and 2011 Bridgehampton Biennial, curated by Bob Nickas. In 2019, Semo had sculptural work exhibited alongside the painter Deborah Remington at Parts & Labor Beacon, NY.

Public art

In 2014, Semo installed a concrete-bunker-like building across from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

, at Broadway and 117th Street. Titled “Everything is Permitted,” the structure was a gray concrete box with mitered corners, seven-feet tall and six-feet square and was installed as part of ''Broadway Morey Boogie'', an exhibition of 10 public sculptures by many artists installed along Broadway between Columbus Circle and 166th Street.

Limited edition

RITE Editions in San Francisco created, in collaboration with the artist, a limited edition letter opener made of Damascus Steel.

Fashion

The designer Rachel Comey presented her RTW Fall 2019 show in Davina Semo's solo exhibition at Marlborough Gallery. The designer Hedi Slimane installed a double X chain piece in the Celine store in Paris.

Quote

“I want the interaction with my work to be as strong as the experience of walking down the street,” she added, “to be affected by the weight, strength, visual layering, power, and associations of the environments we are born into, and make our lives in.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Semo, Davina 1981 births Living people University of California, San Diego alumni Brown University alumni 21st-century American women sculptors 21st-century American sculptors