This summer we opened up a call-to-artists for our very first juried show, curated by guest juror Haley Morris-Cafiero. Haley runs the Masters of Fine Art program at Memphis College of Art, and is an accomplished photographer herself, seeing international success with her series "Wait Watchers." (you can see some of Haley's work here) Submissions came from all over the mid-South throughout the months of May and June, artists were selected and announced in July, and the opening reception celebrating the selected artists' work will be held Friday, August 1st from 5-8pm at Gallery Fifty Six, 2256 Central Ave., Memphis, TN. Take a look at who was selected, and please visit us as we announce the Best in Show during the opening reception!
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| Steven Adair |
Steven Adair
ARTIST STATEMENT
As an artist working under the influence of
Post-Modernism I am constantly merging the old and new in my work. I wish to
create a connective dialogue between the past era of found materials and the
color sensibilities and juxtapositions of the current age.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Steve Adair is a visual artist
living and working in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He is a graduate of Arkansas State
University where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Art
Education. His work has been exhibited on numerous occasions in Colorado,
Illinois, and Arkansas. Most recently his work was featured in Small Works on
Paper, a touring exhibition that travels across Arkansas. His work can be
viewed at the M2 Gallery in Little Rock, AR. In addition to exhibiting, he
works in Distance Learning for Virtual Arkansas, where he teaches K-8th
art.
Timur Akhriev
Artist Statement
As a result of my early training in the Russian academic
tradition, coupled with my studies in an American University’s
Art Department, my studio practice and work blends elements
of Realism from my formal training with contemporary principles
and aesthetics and conceptual theories that I have learned while
studying in the U.S.
From the latter -- one might say from Modernism and
beyond-- I have embraced more formal elements, compositional
freedom, a love of complex surface qualities (“painting as paint”),
and a realization of a freedom to break rules. However, continuing
an attachment to the Russian tradition which formed my early years
of becoming an artist, I have a preoccupation with “observed
reality”: of nature, of structural forms that make up land formations,
of the nuances of culture and how they can be read in a face.
Travel has become an element that, more recently, has informed
my work; with that has come a realization of changes in light, color,
texture, atmosphere that depend on my personal encounters with
a sense of place and cultural identity. Similarly, my awareness of
different cultural characteristics affect what I see and, in the end, to
what happens in the studio or on-site.
When my work involves portraiture, I seek to portray the
character of the sitter, defined as I see and experience it, by the
person’s life, and my awareness of her or his internal psychological
thoughts and experience; all of this related to the sitter’s life,
environment, and culture. The resulting painting, through it’s surface,
coloration, and mood is intended to convey that to its viewer.
In all of my work, I strive for complexity: of the subject
being painted, of my own response to that subject translated into
“painting as paint”, of blending observational reality with touch
and mark and color of my brush (what the Anglo-Canadian artist
Tony Scherman refers to as “notational painting”). Collectively, this
leads to a labor-intensive methodology in my studio practice that
continues to evolve.
Biography
Born in Vladikavkaz, the territory where Southern Russia meets
Chechnya in 1983, Timur lived with his family until moving from the
region during the conflict of 1991. After moving to St. Petersburg,
Timur began attending the St. Petersburg Iagonson Fine Art School at
the age of twelve, where many of the professors studied at the Repin
Academy of Fine Arts. While living in Russia, Timur also received
private tutoring from Nikita Fomin, son of well known Russian artist
Piotr Fomin.
After graduation, Timur immigrated to Chattanooga
Tennessee to live with his father, Daud Akhriev and stepmother,
Melissa Hefferlin, who are also Russian trained artists. In Chattanooga
Timur attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, studying
in the Fine Arts program. To further his education Timur moved to
Florence Italy in 2005 to study at the Florence Academy of Art and
Charles Cicel Studios of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture for two
years.
Though still early in his artistic career, Akhriev has completed
many commissions for private collectors and participated in a
number group shows throughout the country.
Today, the twenty-nine year old, splits his time between the
US and Europe. He has become well-known for his paintings of the
fishing industry in New England as well as various subject matters in
Italy. He is skilled in painting all genres of work.
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| Georgann DeMille |
Georgann DeMille
“The past is hidden somewhere outside the realm, beyond the reach of
intellect, in some material object (in the sensation which that material object
will give us) which we do not suspect. And as for that object, it depends on
chance whether we come upon it or not…” Marcel Proust from Remembrance of Things Past
Nostalgia was originally diagnosed as a mental disorder attributed to homesick soldiers fighting in foreign wars. The definition eventually evolved into the concept of reminiscing or wistful affections for past experiences. It is mystifying how distant memories can be triggered by random contact with ordinary objects. A fragrance, a touch or a glimpse of color has the ability to convey specific moments in time. I find that contact with materials used in everyday activities can cause my mind to be enveloped by my deepest memories. One memory leads to another and then another and slowly becomes a narrative of my past. Daily mundane tasks such as laundry, dusting or purging of unneeded items can instigate the recollections. My artworks are born from my direct contact with items used to accomplish these tasks. Dryer sheets, paperback books or even adult diapers are materials that give form to bittersweet images from my past. Christening gowns, 1950’s inspired dresses and kimonos are fabricated using consumer goods which elicit the remembered object and its importance in my life. These unimposing materials are thus transmogrified into the memories they evoke.
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David Diodate
Scott Dickinson
Time pause. I want a moment to last a lifetime. I want that moment to
have its own life, changing and evolving over the course of its existence. I
have this immense desire because it is in moments that I can begin to
understand my place in the world.
I primarily work with postcards and photographs because they are alive
with the scent of purpose for the moment. Unique individual experiences
have been captured through image; they are inextricably connected to
person, place, and time. Over the years however their messages and
meanings change just as the world has changed, they have lived.
With intent to unite the material with myself and add to their story, I cut
through them, create fragments, and fit them in to new forms and
realities. There are no layers, no longer a feeling of what happened
before or after, the moments are inlaid along side one another, forced to
work together in defining their new direction.
The final images pursue moments that I find most peace and reason in.
They are formed from long walks through neighboring forests, fields, and
along bodies of water, where I can find focus and clarity, the ability to
pause time.
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Alisa Free
Bio
Alisa
Free began expressing her creativity as a child growing up in the Mississippi
Delta, and since then, the practice has taken many forms. After graduating from
Delta State University with a degree in fine arts, she pursued graphic design
and marketing for much of her professional career. She counts some of the
South’s best artists as influences in her life and creative work. She currently
lives with her husband and two cats in Collierville, Tennessee.
Artist
Statement
My paintings
are purely expressive and each begins instinctually. A mood, a place, a color,
a shape or a found object are all things that might stir this intuitive
process. I then use color, layering and texture to find my way through to
artistic resolution. In this resolution, each painting has a distinct language.
The names of my paintings are gathered from various human languages to provide
an unencumbered visual experience.
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Maria Ferguson
Desiree Mitchell
Centering on my experience of losing a loved one, my work tells the story of loss, grief,
and acceptance; feelings that are all experienced personally and shared universally. Music was a
character during this time as I felt most compelled to self-reflect on the situation at hand. I want
my work to have a narrative journey. For some pieces, I select the song that embodies the
emotional content; for other pieces the song itself sparks the imagery. A single song can have
many different meanings to different people. The same song could also have different
implications for a single person. Music has an omnipresence of shifting connotation and I want
to illustrate this idea by the use of homophones to incorporate the audible subtext as well as the
written significance that the title provides-again linking it to sound, meaning, and perception.
As a person changes, the meaning of a song can change-a song that you once thought
was melancholy can become encouraging and a song that you once viewed as uplifting can
become dismal. It all depends on time, mood, and perception. The music begins to mimic the
attitude of your life and it can evolve just as your emotions do upon attaching a song to your
most prominent memory. The meaning may shuffle but the song and memory always remain the
same.
Jeff Muncy
Artist Bio
My name is Jefferson Muncy and I was born in Dallas, Texas. I Attended Booker
T. Washington, High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. After I graduated in
2010 I moved to Memphis, where I attended Memphis Collage of Art. In 2013 I was
featured in University of Memphis's “Best of Memphis” Exhibition. I graduated from
MCA in 2014 with a BFA in painting and minor in Art history. After graduating have
show work in MCA's Best in Class exhibition, and began working as an instructor in
Memphis collage of Arts Summer camp where I teach drawing and painting.
Artist Statement
The theme of spirituality is fascinating to me, particularly in Tibetan Buddhist
culture. In my paintings I strive to represent the core feeling that people get when they
experience something spiritual or enlightening. Putting the figures or objects in an area
lacking any implication of environment creates an immediate spiritual experience. In this
emptiness the figures or objects becomes something holy. A balance results within the
contrast of putting a tangible figure or object, this is representative of the Buddhist
concept of “emptiness.” For just as a cup cannot be empty if there is no cup, the tangible
figure painted within this intangible space are interdependent on the other. It is through
this balance that I believe the core feeling of spirituality radiates from.
DeeAnn Rieves
Lake Newton
Artist Statement
I
consider a work of art illuminating whenever an artist’s view of reality does
not double my knowledge of the world, but a difference between our respective
perceptions occurs. The smaller the difference, the more intense is its effect
on me. Thus, it’s less about a precise representation of reality than the
formulation of the representation of the world. From this viewpoint we can talk
about the artist as an author who- on the basis of facts and by means of a
minimal shift of perception- creates a fiction in close proximity to reality.
In the best case, an artist describes not only the situation and objects, but
endows them as well with a deeper meaning and lets them transcend themselves
with a disturbing and visceral force. This is a powerful trait of art as it
deprives us of convictions and poses more questions than it answers.
In
2012 I began a project titled “On the
Surface of Things.” The work is generated using a flatbed scanner and found
objects. The process explores my interest in combining the aesthetics of
photography, painting and sculpture with that of the chance encounter. The
results reveal both identifiable and transformed pieces of everyday life- a
rusted tin can taken off an abandoned mining camp in Nevada; the plastic mesh
used to protect an Asian pear; book packaging material; a discarded birthday
balloon; burnt food stuff from the bottom of an oven, etc.
Bio
Lake
Roberson Newton lives and works in Memphis, Tennessee. He received a Master of
Fine Arts degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2009. Newton has
exhibited both nationally and internationally, most recently at the Fort Wayne
Museum of Art; Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta; Artisphere, Washington, D.C.;
Loyola University Maryland; Donna Beam Fine Arts Gallery, Las Vegas; and Staple
Goods Gallery, New Orleans.
Cassie Shaver
Biography
Cassie Shaver was born and raised in Northern Illinois and the suburbs of
Chicago, before moving to Kentucky to go to school and be with her
family. As an artist, Cassie works towards pushing the boundaries of what
can be done with printmaking, mixed media, and graphic design, and is
striving to change peoples perceptions of the craft, as well as focusing on
an Eco-friendly studio practice. Currently she has just completed her dual
concentration BFA in Printmaking & Graphic Design, from Eastern
Kentucky University and is working as a Graphic Designer for the
Lexington Art League, while exhibiting her artwork nationally.
Artist Statement
LOST is a series that revolves around the idea of someone losing
their senses. The sense of sight, sound, touch, even the idea of someone
losing their sense of self. It is the idea of a person being so ashamed of
their own identity and disability that they try to hide who they are in
silence, masked; as the world around them continues to thrive. Lost
within themselves.
In order to portray this idea I’ve created layers of different
printmaking techniques, collaged items, and digital type, to build the
pieces into emotional stories. All of the works are starting with a one of a
kind monotype “under painting” that gives a hint at a braille-like language
as well as the thriving environment around the central character. Built on
top are figures, guarded in draped masks built with different folded paper
or feathers, muffling their senses, but highlighting their disability in an
idea of self-awareness. In essence it is about embracing a sense of self
that is lost, and identifying with reality.
Meredith Olinger
My paintings are directly related to the environment in which I live and work. I generally
work with material that is relevant to my home and city. These are trivial papers mostly:
ads that get delivered to my house, old newspapers I haven’t thrown out, the yellow
book that I never looked at, etc. I am troubled by this everyday waste and seek to give
these items a new life. My process is simple: paint, collage, paint, rip away old collage.
This process allows older painted areas to resurface and also creates a more organic
form. I work to give the paintings a sense of history, growth and decay that mimics the
ever-changing city around me.
I am also exploring what constitutes a “finished” painting. I am interested in different
kinds of representation and varying levels of finesse. The paintings are quickly and
roughly painted. The collage is layered and peeling from the surface. These elements
become important as they question the nature of craft and the concepts of skill. Process
is the heart of my work, but I am always looking for beauty in ugliness, meaning in
chance, and poignancy in the irrelevant.
Mary Michael Ryan
Bio
Mary-Michael Ryan is currently working towards a Masters of Fine Arts in
Painting at Memphis College of Art. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting
from Christian Brothers University. She has lived in Memphis all of her life. Her work
is about herself portrayed in various mental states. The issue she focuses on is inner
turmoil. The paintings are painted in oil paint onto decorative fabric.
Artist statement
My work is a statement about psychological illness. I paint nude self-portraits
with oil paint on fabric. Decorative fabric gives structure to the exposed figures.
Genitals are shown in a descriptive manner suggesting abuse and sensuality. The gaze is
heavy and frozen as though crippled by helplessness and depression. Effects of mental
illness take visual form thru my self-portraits. Disordered thoughts and behaviors become
believable when figures are stripped down to bare skin and vulnerability is physically
clear
Tesibius
Artist Statement
For many of my paintings, I utilize a combination of traditional
brushwork with a hands-on screen-printing process in order to reveal how the
human experience is the main driver of socially defined beauty. The process I
use creates slight deviations in each piece in the same way that nature creates
human individuality. This provides me with a result that is both mechanical and
organic.
Highly influenced by advertising, fashion, and street art, I find myself
dissecting the image of beauty into its individual parts so that each part by
itself could be seen as both abstract and beautiful. I then bring those
individual parts together and arrange them to form an image full of lines and
rhythms that the eye cannot help but follow. It is this junction between the
eye, the brain, and the social construct of beauty that I explore in many of my
paintings. In others, I add an element of mathematical code and patterns to the
mix for a heightened experience and hidden narrative.
My color palette is influenced by the eye-catching nature of street art
but I strive for an even balance, not allowing the viewer to be distracted by
the background or the foreground but allowing the viewer to be fully immersed
in the painting. It is during this immersion that I believe the true power and
emotion of each painting is revealed.
Biography
Born in Memphis,
TN in 1986, Tesibius cultivated a sense of creativity at an early age through a
specialized creative learning program lasting nearly all of his pre-college
years, experimenting in various artistic mediums and styles while
also becoming a nationally published and award-winning poet at age 11.
After moving to Washington, D.C. in 2010 and having worked briefly in politics,
he decided to go back to his true love, art. Deriving
his name from the Greek inventor, Ctesibius, who created the standard of time
keeping used for over 18 centuries, Tesibius got back into artistic
mediums by designing clocks. His exploration of clock design, however, was
short-lived as he began experimenting more and more with the silkscreen process
he used to create the clock faces. Gathering much of his inspiration from the
advertising industry, he eventually began creating large pieces with a focus on
how the eye and brain work together to perceive beauty as defined by
society. This interest in perceived beauty led Tesibius to tear down
the normal constructs with precision, leaving behind a
flow of lines and rhythm that is both recognizable and abstract. Tesibius
believes the canvas then becomes a narrative of the human face, where the
viewer can both easily recognize the forms together as beautiful while also
seeing the beauty in its individual parts.
Originally just painting and printing in his
spare time, Tesibius would give his paintings to anyone who vowed to hang them
in their house. One day, a friend with several of his pieces pleaded with
Tesibius to go public with his paintings after receiving numerous requests for
information about the artist. That was put on hold, however, after a motorcycle
crash left Tesibius unable to walk for several weeks and led to months of
recovery. He was only able to paint one piece during that period of “recovery”,
frantically working 8-10 hours a day for over 3 weeks to finish “Pi #1”. The
painting, which was painted with his fingers, consists of 610 numbers of Pi
read top to bottom, left to right, with numbers 1-9 each assigned their own
color, resulting in patterns of color and form that speak to the soul.
Something truly changed with Tesibius following both the crash and the fervor
of work resulting in “Pi#1” as he began producing paintings like never before,
now dedicating every second of every day to art.
Bonnie Gravette
Biography
Bonnie Gravette is a native Memphian, born in Memphis, Tennessee, home of
the Blues, on March 2, 1976. As a child, she was drawn to the piano, playing
and enjoying classical music. In her teenage years, her love of music
transformed itself into a love for the visual arts. She attended Memphis College
of Art training in photography, drawing and painting. She graduated in 2004 with
a bachelor’s degree in fine arts with an emphasis in painting. In the early years
she studied the classical masters such as Michelangelo, and Leonardo DaVinci
later striving to duplicate the Impressionist painter Monet. Toward the end of her
college career, she was pushed to explore her own individual style becoming
influenced by painters from the Abstract Expressionism and Letterism
movements. As a result, realism no longer appealed to her taste except through
the lens of a camera. She was an abstract painter, only capturing the essence of
her subject. Using her travel studies, including ancient cultural hieroglyphics, the
strata of the earth, and urban landscapes she found the voice within and her
subjects began to reflect in intricate layers of mixed media. Bonnie’s art can
currently be viewed at multi-state law firm Baker-Donelson and at the Uptown
Apartments in Memphis, TN. She has shown her work in over 20 galleries
throughout the mid-south. Bonnie is a young, up and coming artist who is
looking forward to continuing to discover herself through her art, travels and
much more.
Artist Statement
Discovery is the spirit of my paintings. The way I create my paintings is
similar to that of an archeologist. There is an essence of discovery within
every layer that I add, take away, and reassemble. The work itself
resembles an artifact, revealing something new within each layer. Just as
an archeologist finds fragments of an object in the layers of the earth,
each layer of my painting provides me with a hint of what the next step will
be in my process.
Referring to landscapes, ancient maps, hieroglyphs, typography, geology,
and cultural writings, I create my paintings by layering the paper for
texture, and then add washes and linear elements to create an abstract
landscape. When I add earth tones and lines more is revealed, which
opens doors to new possibilities. I take away by sanding or covering with
transparent washes, allowing the under painting to show through. I create
abstract paintings to convey the essence of an object or landscape that
represents the way something feels when I look at it - its energy field.
Painting is my form of communication, a way to make better sense of the
chaotic world around me.
Claudia Tullos-Leonard
“If you see the world as beautiful, thrilling and mysterious, as I think I do, then
you feel quite alive.” — David Hockney
I am enthralled by nature. I am fascinated by the variety of shapes and colors and the fact
that nature is constantly changing. What attracts me initially is usually a beautiful flower or
butterfly, but then I find myself pulled into the surrounding space by a decaying leaf, a
spent seed pod or a new bud. These contrasts captivate me.
My recent work depicts water lilies, lotus and other plants that thrive in the lakes, ponds
and marshes of the South. A variety of factors including specific features, shapes, color
variations or contrasts in lights and darks can influence my decision to paint a particular
image. However, once engaged in the painting process, I pay as much attention to the
deepest space or what is under the surface of the water as I do to a brilliantly lit leaf or a
translucent bloom. The initial attraction gives way to the process of looking intently and
painting the colors, shapes, light, patterns, complexities and abstractions that I find.
Painting for me is about the pleasure of looking at things; and, being in nature literally feeds
my soul. With my paintings, I am attempting to share my experiences in nature with the
viewer. I hope the viewer feels pulled into the space to explore as I have.
D'Angelo Williams
I was born and raised in Jackson, MS. During my sophomore year of high school
I became very serious about making photographs of people. Currently, I am a senior
Photography major at Memphis College of Art and will be graduating in May 2015.
Artist Statement:
Many males are faced with challenges while growing into adulthood and
sometimes feel the need to change something about themselves. Change is common.
Natural. Unnatural. My work focuses on the dilemmas that some males have with
conformity, body image, and identity. Dealing with these issues personally has not been a
walk in the park. At times, I have felt the need to change, mentally and physically, due to
the differences between myself and other males. In this body of work I was able to do so.
Meghan Vaziri
Artist Statement
The foundation of this work lies in white lines sewn symmetrically into tulle
fabric. This process is undertaken by hand—the lines sewn in rows of two so that
they can be pulled taut and tied off. This results in a gathering of the fabric. After the
entire surface is covered with these lines, it is ready for an image to be sewn onto the
gathered tulle with colored thread of wool, cotton, or silk. I allow the medium to
guide my process, often experimenting with a thread or mark and later removing it. In
a medium-sized piece, there are more than one hundred white lines, and the process
usually takes between three and six months.
The pieces are generally displayed on hand-made lightboxes, but can also be
displayed and viewed in other ways: on an unlit lightbox, in a window, or hanging
from the ceiling.
The sewing of the straight white lines creates irregularity in the fabric. Tension
between these two contrasting things is essential as both a literal and figurative
support for the work. The disorder in the fabric created by the lines makes the surface
move as I work upon it—creating something akin to a living thing. The way it changes
under different lights also adds to this illusion.
I work both abstractly and figuratively. My figurative work features imagery
from literature and myth along with some personal history. Abstract works are the
result of the medium guiding my way.
An example of a figurative work, Rangda depicts my mother and myself with a
statue of the Balinese witch. I started sewing the Rangda imagery because of the
power of the topless, threatening statue. I had not closely examined my relationship
with my mother when I began the piece, nor did I intend to express anything personal
– but the queen Rangda, turned into the personification of evil by a patriarchal
society, with her womanly attributes (vagina, sagging breasts) now perceived as
shameful and frightening, had deep implications both for what my mother presented
as ideal womanhood and what the reality was for our family. I am grateful to the slow
and forgiving nature of the medium for allowing much to be mixed into it—often
resulting in revelations.
Zach Underwood
Memphis-based painter Zack Underwood earned his B.F.A. from the University of Alabama in 2007 and his M.F.A from the University of South Carolina in 2013. His work was recently published in New American Paintings and Studio Visit and can be seen in the upcoming Red Clay Survey at the Huntsville Museum of Art.
My figurative painting involves the manipulation of found photographs to generate a narrative that addresses my uncertainty about what defines masculinity and adulthood and how photographs can document these questions within time. My recent still lifes are an exploration of the evocative nature of various mundane found objects.
Amanda Wood
Form to formula
I am deeply inspired by the linear nature of structures and the negative spaces
created in between them. This work resulted from studies with the interplay of
lines, intersections, and the negative spaces that resulted from these
combinations.
These scaffolding forms appear in my work and serve as reminders that the
formulas we use as human creators are the same “building blocks” used by
nature.
The more I continue to elaborate and express these forms, the more I want to
express and reinterpret them, and deepen my understanding of the inherent
formula of form.
Kaitlyn Stoddard
This collection of photographs is an exploration of the dynamics in varying
relationships – person to person, animal to animal, and even human to animal. The
relationship between subject and photographer was just as significant as the
comparisons made between images.
The ambiguity of the images allows them to be relatable to a broad audience
while questioning the typical perspective. In a time when figures are idealized and
limitations are put before us, the subtle imperfections and obvious abstractions
contradict these norms.
I discovered in the challenges of this series that the images are as much about
healing and the process in healing as it as about changing points of view. These
photos become something that they are not – a refuge in a sense. Vulnerable, we
seek comfort in another person, therapy in the rhythm of an animal’s heartbeat, or
even freedom in a new landscape. I believe it is when we are most honest with
ourselves that we are able to accept our imperfections, change our perspective, and
truly be the most intimate.
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