April 2013

Green Hill Center for NC Art in Greensboro, NC, Features Exhibition of Abstract Works

The Green Hill Center for NC Art in Greensboro, NC, announces an exhibition focusing on contemporary abstract paintings entitled Independents, featuring works by Brett Baker, Mark Brown, Ashlynn Browning, Philip Lopez and Bonnie Melton, on view from Apr. 5 through June 2, 2013.

Independents examines the recent work of five abstract painters from the Triangle area of NC and responds to Green Hill Center’s mission of presenting a wide range of contemporary artists working in the state: “With each exhibition we reinvent ourselves because every new exhibition changes. It gives us an artistic freedom that other organizations do not have. We also have to take responsibility of being good stewards to the artists of the state. With each exhibition we are creating a snapshot of the quality and caliber of artists in the state” said Laura Way, Executive Director of Green Hill Center for NC Art.

Curated by Edie Carpenter, the exhibition examines the strong level of abstract painting being produced by North Carolina-based artists. “I selected this group of artists because they negotiate their relationship to the world in a different way. Each is stylistically different and the gallery visitor will find a wide range of approaches to abstraction. From the single monumental freestanding canvases by Brett Baker that create a sensation of being enveloped in a corridor of color to Philip Lopez’s paintings on wood panels which display a pictorial logic based on richly colored, highly developed surfaces that have been layered, squeegeed or abraded by sanding. The artists also represent a variety of experience and age; ranging from emerging artists Ashlynn Browning and Brett Baker to Mark Brown, Bonnie Melton and Philip Lopez who are at mid-career,” said Carpenter, Director of Curatorial and Artists Programs.

The exhibition provides programming opportunities like the NC Art Outreach Project, a program that has been made available through a grant by the Tannenbaum-Sternberger Foundation. The project is designed to draw attention and facilitate a two-way dialog between national artists, critics and gallery owners and North Carolina artists. The NC Art Outreach Project is a two-part ancillary program where Green Hill Center will select a group of artists to present their work Pecha Kucha-style to Green Hill Center’s curatorial staff and artist board members.

Pecha Kucha is a simple presentation format-each artist will show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images advance automatically as each artist presents, allowing for a six minute presentation. This artist-directed program provides a forum for North Carolina artists and panel to exchange ideas and information in pursuit of artistic excellence and professional growth.

The second phase of the NC Art Outreach Project will happen upon arrival of the panel to Greensboro on Apr. 22. To start the two-day program, the Outreach Panel will lead a public discussion of their views on contemporary art and provide suggestions for artists. In a private session, the participating exhibition artists will have the opportunity to show digital files of their work and engage in in-depth conversations about their work, studio practices, entrepreneurship, and career trajectory.

On Apr. 22 from 5:30-6:30pm in the gallery at Green Hill Center the Outreach Panel composed of Miles Manning, Director of the Elizabeth Harris Gallery in New York, Lilly Wei, New York-based independent curator and critic, and Peter Plagens, American painter, art critic and novelist will discuss their views on contemporary art and the position of artists who are working on the periphery of the mainstream.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listing, call the Center at 336/333-7460 extension 106 or visit (www.greenhillcenter.org).

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