January 2014

Spartanburg Art Museum in Spartanburg, SC, Offers Exhibit of Abstract Works

The Spartanburg Art Museum, located at the Chapman Cultural Arts Center, in Spartanburg, SC, will present Abstract Invitational, on view from Jan. 12 through Mar. 29, 2014.

The exhibition is a collection of abstract paintings and sculptures, which features artists from the piedmont area of North and South Carolina. “This exhibit of works by artists working in their personal visual language to express and celebrate thought-provoking self-expressions released into an abstract and removed art form is one to visit many times to view, study, and explore your own interpretations,” said Ann Stoddard, Gallery Director and College Curator of the Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC, where the exhibit was organized and first shown earlier this year.

Artists participating in the exhibition included: Daniel Bare, Martyn Bouskila Felicia van Bork, Linda Hudgins, Robert Levin, Dale McEntyre, Christopher Rico and Valerie Zimany.

Abstract art or “non-objective art” uses a visual language of form, shape, color, line, brush stroke and other applications to create an independent expression possibly inspired by visual references or an internal monologue. Abstract works can also be simply described as spontaneous and emotional expressions, free of any associations with meaning but purely an expression of the visual language through a given medium or media.

The “abstract” art movement began in the early twentieth century and has evolved to this day to a very broad array of art forms used. Basically it is known as a way to self-express in a very freed up way which coincides with current themes in history today.

The exhibition offers a wide range of self-expression through the broad art movement of the abstract genre. Artists’ works in this exhibit use traditional media for their “abstract” art works in this colorful exhibit which includes the whimsical glassworks by renown glass artist Robert Levin; the thought provoking capricious works on paper by Felicia van Bork; the flirtatious painterly color swirls of Linda Hudgins; the importantly defined brilliantly colored shaped canvases of Dale McEntyre; the dynamic stormy paintings by Christopher Rico and the contrasting methodical and deliberately calculating rhythmic geometric paintings by Martyn Bouskila, surreal ceramic concoctions by Daniel Bare and Valerie Zimany’s erotic clay sculptures.

The Museum is also showing, Creative Ladies of CC Woodson, on view through Feb. 15, 2014. It is a collaborative exhibit featuring an eclectic mix of works by local seniors, all members of the Creative Ladies of CC Woodson art program. The program was organized and directed by local artist Pat Kabore, with assistance from the city of Spartanburg.

SAM is funded in part by The Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg and its donors, the County and City of Spartanburg, and the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from The National Endowment for the Arts.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Museum at 864/582-7616 or visit (www.spartanburgartmuseum.org).

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