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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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