Welcome Back, Kotter 1977

Jack Davis made this image of the Welcome Back Kotter crew, and it looks like he used pencils and paint. You can really see the process in his line and wash technique. Davis has a real love for mark making and for the character of the medium itself. Look at the teacher’s tweed jacket - a frenzy of hatching and cross hatching, with so much energy, it seems like the pattern could jump right off the surface! The way he deploys color is so descriptive, it makes you think not only about the colors themselves, but about the very idea of color and how it can shape our perceptions. Davis’ work reminds me a bit of David Hockney’s portrait drawings, though there’s something much looser and more joyful in Davis’ touch. I get the feeling Davis wasn’t interested in perfection, but rather in the exchange between himself, the medium and his subject matter.