October 2013

Nina Liu and Friends in Charleston, SC, Features Fishy Art Exhibition

Something is fishy at Nina Liu and Friends, in Charleston, SC, or it will be! The gallery prepares for the change of seasons with Somethin’ Fishy, an exhibition featuring many gallery artists and focusing on animals of the piscine variety as well as other creatures that live in or frequent aquatic habitats. The exhibition will be on view from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30, 2013, and there will be a gallery reception from 5-7pm on Friday, Oct. 4.

Featuring paintings, drawings and sculpture in a variety of media, Somethin’ Fishy will showcase works by Sherri Brown, Jeri Burdick, John Clingempeel, John Davis, Diana Farfán, Diane Gilbert, Mana Hewitt, Jeff Kopish, Briant Matheson, Susie Miller Simon, Cynthia Tollefsrud, Sue Simons Wallace, Martha Worthy, Aggie Zed and gallery owner Nina Liu. The various works will fill rooms on the first and second floors of the Poinsett House, the historic structure that houses Nina Liu and Friends.

Highlights of the exhibition include Aggie Zed’s ceramic sculptures of fish and sharks as well as several of her drawings. Her dreamlike imagery complements John Clingempeel’s charcoal drawing of swans that glow with an inner light. John Davis’ ceramic arthropods, cephalopods and fish look as if a fisherman just plucked them from a primordial sea, and Jeri Burdick’s oyster plates play upon historic forms. In addition to her “fish bowls,” long popular with collectors, Nina Liu is developing a series of fish plates for the exhibition.

Atlanta, GA, artist Briant Matheson, whose work is new to the gallery, crafts three dimensional fish of papier mâché and metal that hang from the ceiling, while Jeff Kopish recycles scraps of metal and found objects and adorns them with patterns to form delightfully fanciful fish. Sue Simons Wallace’s contemporary compositions and delicate use of ink and colored pencil take the ancient Japanese gyotaku process to a new level of sensitive documentation.

Diana Farfán’s surreal ceramic figures are both fun and frightening, while Diane Gilbert uses clay to sculpt animals that slink, crawl and sprawl across surfaces. Mana Hewitt, whose metal work is very intricate, presents a series of paintings of fish that display the range of her artistic skill. Sherri Brown uses pattern to animate “fossil fish” that she makes with cut paper, while Susie Miller Simon layers watercolor pigments and simplified forms to create a sense of calm in her work. Cynthia Tollefsrud’s bright colors and clever imagery delight the eye, and Martha Worthy’s realistic paintings recall the art of great naturalists of the past.

For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listing or call the gallery at 843/722-2724.

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