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The unique nature of this landscape was most evident while traveling at night. In the dark, one experienced only a dark, undifferentiated field through the window, a field where space was only occasionally indicated by the lights of an isolated ranch house.

In Davidovich's description of his travels, one finds the roots of several essential characteristics of his art. Throughout his work, for example, one finds a strong concern for environment, particularly those environments that might normally pass unnoticed or be considered wetlands. In the bleakness of the landscape, as framed through the bus or train window, one can find the origin of the minimal and often random surface detail. The movement through a highly ambiguous space echoes a central concern; this concern is most evident in the videotapes and environments but also may be found in many of his paitnings.

Soon after his return from Brazil Davidovich began a series of "blackboard paintings" that he continued to paint until 1963. These paintings consist of large black fields, with horizontal and vertical dimensions of between two and three meters. They were executed by the frottage technique -- for Davidovich this meant rubbing the canvas with a cloth and applying small painterly brushstrokes. The brushed-on pigment was often rather thick, giving areas of the canvas a highly textured surface. This