Submitted photo The exhibition “Wrinkles in the Smile of Divinity” features the work of Cleveland artist Davon Brantley.

The work of Davon Brantley will be featured in Youngstown State University’s Judith Rae Solomon Gallery in February.

Brantley is a Cleveland native who earned his bachelor’s degree in drawing from Cleveland Institute of Art in 2018. He has exhibited and curated at such institutions as Bay Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, the CAN Triennial, the Morgan Conservatory, the Indianapolis Arts Center and the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve.

The work in “Wrinkles in the Smile of Divinity” is influenced by Dante’s “Divine Comedy.”

Brantley presents a trilogy of works that navigate the territories of Hell, Purgatory and Divinity as metaphors for the artist’s personal journey.

Through Rorschach-silhouetted substrates, nonconventional portraiture and dynamic blooming colors, the exhibition examines how toxic generational ideas about love and domesticity shape our lives, how we navigate the nonlinear beauty and dread of grief, and how we reconcile traditional values with the contemporary realities of connection and family.

According to Brantley, “This body of work explores perception and the implications of maintaining and obtaining ‘image’ or the lack thereof.”

The work will be on display Monday through Feb. 27 at Solomon Gallery, located in Bliss Hall.

Brantley will speak at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the lecture hall at McDonough Museum of Art, 525 Wick Ave., Youngstown.

An opening reception will follow at Solomon Gallery starting around 6:30 p.m.

Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, and admission is free.

Parking is available at the Wick Avenue Deck for $5.