| For more information about this article or gallery, please call the gallery phone number listed in the last line of the article, "For more info..." |
January Issue
2011
ARTworks in Beaufort, SC, Offers Works
by James Denmark
ARTworks in Beaufort Town Center in
Beaufort, SC, will present the exhibit, Glorious Mornings:
James Denmark, featuring works by this renowned artist and
collagist, on view from Jan. 7 through Feb. 5, 2011. An opening
reception will take place on Jan. 7, 2011, from 6-8pm.
In his studio in Yemassee SC, using brightly hand colored papers
and found materials, Denmark creates compositions that go beyond
the superficial and transitory. He focuses, instead, on what is
eternal and universal. Denmark's work is consistently and eagerly
sought after by galleries and collectors worldwide: most notably
New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
"Trust and faith creates confidence, which allows me to move
forward with my work," stated Denmark. "I leave everything
to the spirits. I step back every so often to peek at found collage
materials, and to ponder new possibilities. I am a party to improvisation,
found materials, and the impact of color."
Born in 1935, Denmark was exposed to color and form at an early
age by his grandmother, a wire sculptor and quilt artist, by his
grandfather, a bricklayer noted for his unique custom design molds,
and his mother who was gifted with an intuitive feeling for design
and a fastidiousness for detail which she expressed in all aspects
of her daily life. While attending Florida Agricultural and Mechanical
University in Tallahassee, FL, on a sports scholarship, he came
under the tutelage of the artist and acclaimed African-American
art historian, Dr. Samella Lewis, who exposed him to great traditions
and accomplishments of the African -American art movement.
Denmark moved to Brooklyn, NY, and began a career as an art teacher
in the public school system, and from 1973 to 1976, earned his
Master of Fine Art Degree at the prestigious Pratt Institute of
Fine Art. Denmark met and was nurtured by an immensely talented
community of artists, including abstract expressionists as Jackson
Pollack, Clifford Still, and William DeKooning. The African-American
masters Norman Lewis, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Ernest
Crichlow instilled in him an appreciation of his African-American
artistic heritage, and he began experimenting with collage. Prior
to this period, he worked primarily in watercolors and charcoal.
Denmark has a natural affinity for the difficult and largely improvisational
medium of collage and quickly developed his own unique and easily
identifiable style.
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery
listings, call the center at 843/379-2787 or visit (www.artworksinbeaufort.org).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2011 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2011 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.