From its outward appearance, 44 Portland St. in Worcester does not look like the sort of building to house one of the city’s premier art galleries, but as the adage goes: Don’t judge a book by its cover. The Davis Art Gallery, part of Davis Publications Inc., sits on the third floor of the Portland Street building and will debut The Believers, a series of photographic portraits by local artist Louie Despres.

“We are all here. We all look different,” Despres said. “I didn’t make this show to create a message. It was a personal project. It has significance to me.”

Despres has been documenting the Worcester music scene and different areas around the city since moving to Worcester nearly 20 years ago. The Believers is his first series of photographic portraits. “This show is a departure from the types of shows I normally do,” Despres said. “I wanted a departure. There are no names on the portraits, only numbers. I didn’t want it to be identified as being from Worcester.”

Despres said that photographing the portraits was a much more intimate experience than anything he’d done previously. “All the portraits were shot from 1 to 1½ feet away,” Despres said. “No session lasted longer than 15 seconds.”

On a larger scale, looking past his own body of work, Despres said that art “binds the community together,” a view he shares with both Karl Cole and Erika Wade, the curators of the Davis Art Gallery. Art education advocacy has been the epicenter of Davis Publications’ work for many years. The gallery, which began in 2007, has been the forefront of Cole and Wade’s support for art education. Cole said that the gallery’s support is derived from a love of art and the area’s strong artistic community.

“I moved here from Chicago many years ago, and I’m amazed by the amount of support for the artistic community,” Cole said.

The Believers, along with being Despres’ first foray into portraiture, is also the first strictly photographic exhibition at Davis since the gallery’s opening. “We’ve never shown photographic portraits here before, and we’re always looking to do something new and different,” Wade said.

Past shows have included artwork by the staff of Davis Publications Inc. – sculpture, drawings, and most recently, an exhibition titled Meanwhile in Downtown Worcester… showcasing a series of comic book-based artwork which ended in May.

The opening of The Believers, which occurred earlier in the summer, drew a diverse and interested crowd. Portraits lined the walls of the gallery, and Despres offered to take photos of anyone who might be interested in becoming part of his ongoing series. The intimacy prevailed throughout all of the portraits – with the focus on the subjects’ faces and conveying a particular emotion.

“I don’t give anyone time to try and be a model,” Despres said. “I just show them as they are.”

The Believers will be on view at The Davis Art Gallery, 44 Portland St., Worcester, until Aug. 21. For more information, visit davisartgallery.com.

By Ryan Cashman