January 2011

Arts Council of Beaufort County, Port Royal, & Sea Islands in Beaufort, SC, Offers Works by James & Dimitri Denmark

The Arts Council of Beaufort County, Port Royal, & Sea Islands in Beaufort, SC, will present the exhibit, Generations: the work of James Denmark and Dimitri Denmark, on view at Gallery @ ARTworks, from Jan. 6 through Feb. 29, 2012. A reception will be held on Jan. 6, from 6-8pm.

The exhibit features works by James Denmark, the renowned artist and collagist (including a spot in the Absolute collection in Stockholm) and his grandson Dimitri Denmark, based in Florida, who join forces to fill the spacious gallery at ARTworks.

In his studio in Yemassee, SC, James Denmark creates compositions that go beyond the superficial and transitory. He focuses, instead, on what is eternal and universal. His 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 James 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, James 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. This family tradition continues in grandson Dimitri Denmark, who is forging his own artistic career as an adult.

James Denmark’s career began as an art teacher in the New York public school system. There he 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.

James 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 Arts Council at 843/379-2787 or visit (www.beaufortcountyarts.com).

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