January Issue 2002
Hodges Taylor Gallery in Charlotte, NC, Features Solo Exhibitions by Mark Flowers &Edward Rice
Hodges Taylor Gallery in Charlotte, NC, announces the opening of two solo exhibitions by two artists with strong South Carolina affiliations, Mark Flowers and Edward Rice. The exhibits open Jan. 4 and will continue through Feb. 23, 2002.
In his twentieth year with Hodges Taylor Gallery, Mark
Flowers' recent work continues to explore various materials and
to use strong color as he creates pieces which function as objects
as well as paintings. Flowers grew up in South Carolina, the son
of an artist/teacher. Having taught at the Savannah College of
Art and Design for many years, he currently lives and works in
Pennsylvania. Flowers' work is in numerous collections, both public
and private, including the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston,
SC, the Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, SC and
the collection of Stevens and Wilkinson, Inc. in Atlanta, GA.
There is a sense of play in these narrative works where Flowers transforms the bottom of an old dresser drawer into a surface for painting, attaching other found objects to this work, giving a new life to discarded items. The result is a work that is about shifting relationships, making use of visual symbols as metaphors.
Conceptually, Flowers' work shifts between juxtapositions of common objects within the piece and their larger symbolic meaning. The cup or spinning bowl form found in many paintings is an evolution from the tornado form in early paintings, used by the artist as a symbol of himself as well. Flowers says, "I see the work more as a visual synthesis of insight... more akin to visual poetry." His interest does not lie in literal meaning but in the artist's collaboration with the viewer and the work of art.
Longtime
friend and fellow artist, Edward Rice will open his first solo
exhibition with Hodges Taylor Gallery. Rice is a native South
Carolinian whose paintings have been featured in several museum
shows including the McKissick Museum, at the University of South
Carolina, in Columbia, SC, and Gibbes Museum of Art, as well as
numerous solo and group exhibitions around the country. Rice has
received many awards: several South Carolina Arts Commission Grants,
a South Carolina Visual Arts Fellowship, a NEA Regional Fellowship
and a Merit Award from the Mint Museum Biennial. The artist is
collected internationally and is represented by galleries around
the country including Mary Pauline Gallery in Georgia and Gerald
Peters Gallery in New Mexico.
The work Rice will present at Hodges Taylor
continues his long interest in representations of architecture.
His paintings convey a presence that is at once emblematic and
atmospheric. Dr. Tom Mack once referred to the German theoretician
Friedrich Von Schelling in a review he wrote of Rice's work for
the Aiken Standard. "Von Schelling asserted, 'architecture
is music in space, as it were a frozen music,'" aptly describing
the artist's work.
Rice's training largely came from an ongoing apprenticeship to
Freeman Schoolcraft from whom Rice learned the craft of painting.
He also came to understand that the best statements made in art
are those made by being well crafted. Having an absolute knowledge
of the subject matter is another strong trait of this artist.
His compositions are carefully selected and rendered. They are
at once quiet and monumental, catching the moment that speaks
of reality and yet, is magically suspended in time.
Where Rice's work deals with architecture as a subject, Flowers' pieces are more architectural in their nature as objects. The paintings of Edward Rice are contemplative, the sheer authority of his technique obvious. The work of Mark Flowers is exuberant and playful, inviting the viewer to play as well. The two exhibitions promise to be interesting in their contrasts and enlightening in the vastly different approaches to art. How two good friends approach painting from two distinct vantage points is a metaphor in itself of our current times.
For further information check our NC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 704/334-3799 or at (http://www.hodgestaylorgallery.com).
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
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