The Inaugural Perennial: Natural Abstraction
This is a recommended CAM event.
Venue:
Artists:
Curator:
Frances Colpitt
Dates:
Friday, Mar 9, 2012 - Friday, May 25, 2012
Receptions:
Friday, Mar 9, 5:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Images:
Esteban Delgado, Untitled, 2011, 30"x40" - Acrylic on Canvas
Jayne Lawrence, No time for gardening, 29"x 22" - Graphite on Bristol, Courtesy of David Shelton Gallery
March 9, 2012 - Opening Reception
Conversation with Curator | 5:30 - 6 p.m.
Opening Reception | 6 - 9 p.m.
Curatorial Statement:
This exhibition includes nine emerging and mid-career artists from San Antonio. They work in a variety of mediums, including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, and installation, demonstrating the quality of technical facility and the sophistication of invention characteristic of San Antonio’s best artists.
Most of the works in Natural Abstraction are abstract yet all are deeply felt and allusive. Many take on the subject of nature, especially its organic processes of life, growth, and death. Both subtle and obvious differences distinguish their work, which ranges from the sharp, hard-edge geometry of Delgado and Jennings to the light-handed delicacy of Ward and Halonen. The surreal creatures populating Jayne Lawrence’s elegant drawings are stylistically distinct from Wesley Harvey’s frolicking ceramic fauna, yet both artists blur the boundaries between human and animal, between innocence and sexuality. The formal precision of Trevino’s colorful pattern-oriented paintings and drawings corresponds to the conceptual rigor of Wallace’s time-based performances and installations. With the disinterested simplicity of crime-scene photography, Sudhoff’s photographs of ragged-edged stains and their illuminating titles evoke profoundly disturbing narratives. Whether purely nonrepresentational or suggestively figurative, the works in this exhibition are driven by content, engaging the viewer in the thought-provoking pursuit of meaning.
The artist and works in Natural Abstraction were selected by critic, curator, and art historian, Frances Colpitt. A long-time resident of San Antonio, she currently teaches contemporary art and theory at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, where she holds an endowed professorship, the Deedie Potter Rose Chair of Art History.
The Guadalupe is proud to host The Inaugural Perennial: Natural Abstraction as part of Contemporary Art Month.
Music by Bombasta, beverages by Blue Moon, Alamo Beer and Vino30, and food from Mariah Delaye.
