March 2011

NC Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC, Features Works by Destry Sparks

NC Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC, will present the exhibit, Material-Immaterial: the Assemblage Paintings, featuring works by Greenville, NC, artist Destry Sparks, on view in the Dunn Center’s Mims Art Gallery, from Mar. 30 through Apr. 29, 2012. A reception will be held on Mar. 30, starting at 7pm with live music by the Tar River Dulcimers.

Sparks makes colorful assemblage paintings with, stuff. He attaches all kinds of rusty time-worn found objects to his burlap canvasses. To complete his works, acrylic paint is applied carefully around the objects to create a particularly visceral effect atypical of traditional painting.

Sparks says, “I like to push painting a bit into different directions. I paint on burlap instead of canvas. Burlap fits with my choice of other meager, often well-worn materials. I use discarded items such as rusted bottle caps and small broken mechanical parts alongside ‘worthless’ natural items like sticks and smashed pine cones.” Found objects both man-made and natural express humanity and our relationship with a divine plan. Using windows for frames is a way the artist can say, “look into this different spiritual dimension”.

Educated at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, with a BA in Anthropology with an Art Minor and at the Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC, Sparks has synthesized his art by combining his anthropology and painting experience. His paintings have been exhibited around the country from Atlanta to Ann Arbor, MI. Recent exhibits include the Danville Museum of Fine Arts in VA ; the American Art Gallery, 2011, New York, NY; the Sardinas Gallery at St. Thomas University, 2011, Miami, FL, and as far away as the Stefan Maguran Gallery, 2010, Plympton, South Australia. Sparks is also involved with curatorial initiatives and projects, many on the world-wide web.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the gallery at 252/985-5268 or visit (www.ncwc.edu/Arts/Mims/).

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