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January Issue 2011

SECCA in Winston-Salem, NC, Offers Works by Shinique Smith, Glenda Wharton, & NC Contemporary Artists

The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Winston-Salem, NC, is presenting several exhibits including: Shinique Smith: Every Brick, on view through Feb. 13, 2011; Glenda Wharton: The Zo, on view through Feb. 13, 2011; and NCNC [North Carolina New Contemporary], on view through Mar. 13, 2011. All three exhibitions were organized by SECCA and curated by Steven Matijcio.

Baltimore-born, Brooklyn-based artist Shinique Smith marries elements of graffiti, collage and fashion with performance, painting, music and sculpture to create cross-disciplinary works that bristle with lived energy in the exhibit, Shinique Smith: Every Brick. Across canvases, panels, bales of second-hand clothing, monuments cobbled from used textiles and site-specific installations, she vividly translates the stuff of urban life into a renovated view of art history. In Every Brick, a selection of past works provide the context for a series of new works that map an abstract, yet intense passage from dark to light.

Smith confronts the iconic works, conventions, and legacies of art history with lyrical reconsiderations. In the process, her fluid use of black line, psychedelic color palette, and sheer artistic alchemy have elevated her work into exhibitions and collections across the country. In this exhibition, a selection of past works provides the context for a series of new paintings, sculptures and site-specific installations inspired by the colors, textiles and cultures of the southeast.

With haunting narratives, fluid drawing skills, and dream-like coloration, Winston-Salem artist Glenda Wharton breathes new life into the increasingly rare practice of hand-drawn animation in the exhibit, Glenda Wharton: The Zo. She has recently completed her first feature length animation, The Zo, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and screened at the Museum of Modern Art (New York) in May. On the heels of this inspiring debut, SECCA is the first venue to present this film in the place it was created.

The exhibit, NCNC [North Carolina New Contemporary], shows how a recent movement in art-making is fusing seemingly disparate elements of history painting and collage with graffiti, video gaming, folk, anime, advertising and film. In a state of continual mutation, this movement congregates a variety of practices under one amorphous umbrella ­ speeding through titles as quickly as it does styles. From "pop surrealism" and "low brow" to "gen art" and "new contemporary," the embryonic nature of this genre speaks to its ongoing attempts at mapping the history of the 21st century. Such efforts found immediate traction in major urban centers, and intriguing interpretations outside the mainstream.

Such is the case in North Carolina, where a generation of young artists from across the state are animating "new contemporary" with painting and sculpture that traverses the aesthetic spectrum. Across Asheville, Thomasville, Charlotte, Winston-Salem and Raleigh, this exhibition celebrates artists redefining the visual identity of NC.

Participating artists include: Darren Goins, Hieronymus, James Marshall [Dalek], Brian Mashburn, Sean Pace [Jinx], Taiyo la Paix, Parail, Mathew Curran, Derek Toomes, and Gabriel Shaffer.

The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) is an affiliate of the North Carolina Museum of Art, a division of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. Beverly Eaves Perdue, Governor; Linda A. Carlisle, Secretary; Mark Richard Leach, Executive Director. SECCA is a funded partner of The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Center at 336/725-1904 or visit (www.secca.org).

 

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