November 2013

Vista Studios in Columbia Offers Works by Marge Loudon Moody

Vista Studios in Columbia, SC, will present Made in America 1983 – 2013: Collage, featuring works by Marge Loudon Moody, Nov. 8-9 & 11, from noon-5pm. A reception will be held on Nov. 7, from 5-8pm.

In the final exhibition of several shows held this year celebrating her 30-Year retrospective, artist Marge Loudon Moody will be displaying some of her graphic work in an exhibition entitled Made in America 1983 – 2013: Collage, at Gallery 80808 at Vista Studios. As in previous shows, 35% of sales will benefit the homeless – in Columbia, ’Transitions’ Homeless facility.

Moody’s artist statement reads: “My work is inspired by the spirit of place. I make abstract acrylic paintings on canvas, collages and mixed-media pieces, which, through a rigorous process of working and reworking of composition and art elements, arrive at a harmonious expression of the essential nature of the subject. My collage work often employs ‘found’ materials and involves layering and precise juxtaposition of line, color, shape and texture. Life experience may be similarly layered. At times, subject matter serves as metaphor for intangible ideas. It examines boundaries, and addresses the fragility of existence, of presence, of absence, and of memory”.

Selected small collages that span 30 years (1983 – 2013) on a variety of themes will be on view. Such themes include the City Scene series; Bird Series; Precious Threads series; the Square series and the Urban Instincts series.

David Houston, former head of Visual Art at the SC Arts Commission offered an essay in 2000, titled “Marge Moody: Collage”: “By its very nature collage is an open text that, when successful, establishes an empathetic link between the artist, the image and the viewer. The subtle nature of this communication, as does conversation, is renewed with each encounter and makes significant demands on both parties. The artist must rely on a sure sense of composition to shape many different elements into a unified work, while the viewer is challenged to look beyond the convention of semblance and respond to a poetic language that often relies on ambiguity and abstraction. Outliving its modernist heritage, the collage sensibility is now the very foundation for our understanding of the world: as we read a magazine, shop, use the computer, or drive down the strip, we enter the realm of collage”.

“Within this context, the collage pieces of Scottish-born artist Marge Moody address a different realm than that of our cacophonous lives. Cutting and pasting, mark-making and layering are all techniques which, in her hands, bring order rather than celebrate randomness. Relying on subtle relationships and the carefully considered play of tension her work abjures absolutes and contrasts sharply with the media-conscious narratives of much contemporary art. For the knowing viewer, references abound. Partly conscious but mostly not, Moody’s use of the language of the twentieth century abstract art relies on intuitive borrowing rather than outright appropriation or ironic quotation. For viewers unfamiliar with this tradition, these works invite an individual response and succeed in communicating the satisfaction of aesthetic engagement and delight. Above all, the works by Marge Moody invite all of us to rediscover the almost forgotten experience of genuinely looking at art.”

For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings, call the Studios at 803/252-6134 or visit (www.vistastudios80808.com).

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