April 2014

Arts Council of York County in Rock Hill, SC, Features Works by James P. Karner

The Arts Council of York County in Rock Hill, SC, is presenting Seeking the Sublime, an exhibit of works by Seth Rouser, J. Michael Simpson, and Robert W. Mullinex, on view in the Dalton Gallery at the Center for the Arts, through Apr. 27, 2014. A reception will be held on Apr. 10, beginning at 6pm, during Rock Hill’s Come-See-Me Festival.

For the past five years, Seth Rouser has been working with cloudscapes as a catalyst for exploring the interplay between universal and the subjective experience. Finding parallels between the constant flux of the sky and the human existence, and intrigue in the inherent ability of clouds to represent constant change, while simultaneously evoking a sense of timelessness, Rouser’s work introduces, through gestural mark making and color, his subjective moment as the artist.

Originally from Fountain Inn, SC, Rouser is based in Rock Hill, where he is an Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at Winthrop University. He has exhibited work at Artspace in Raleigh, NC, Dialect Gallery in Charlotte, NC, and at Gaston College in Gastonia, NC.

J. Michael Simpson says, “We typically assume the Heraclitian principal that we can never step into the same stream twice; that there is a gap between ‘now’ and ‘then’; ‘here’ and ‘there’. Simpson’s paintings, drawings, and videos explore the paradoxical irony that digital technologies impose on the perception of time and place. Using the poetic metaphor of a river to set the context of time, and the Middle Saluda River in western South Carolina for imagery. Videos of sites along the river are used to create stop-action images of the movement of water. Using a second or two of video, three and sometimes five frames are edited to infer a specific moment on the river. The subtle differences in the ebb and flow that can be seen in these side-by-side images create a time frame that happens so quickly that the experience allows the viewer to feel as if they are inside a moment.

Simpson is based in Rock Hill. His works have previously exhibited at the Dalton Gallery in the Center for the Arts in the 23rd Annual Juried Competition Exhibition and as an invited artist at the 2012 Art Frenzy. His work, Drawing Water VI: On and Off Time was a juried selection at the 2013 Underexposed Film Festival YC. Simpson’s works have also been exhibited at the Venice Art Center in Venice, CA, at City Art Gallery in Columbia, SC, at the Johnson Art Center in Troy, AL, and at Colorado State University’s Curfman Gallery in Fort Collins, CO.

Robert W. Mullinex works in two-dimensional media, intending his works as more than image. In an age dominated by video, he attempts to create significant objects, things that give the viewer pause. Mullinex’s works remain flat, static images when viewed in digital, online form, their subtleties of physical texture in the originals may only truly be experienced when viewed in person, but that is a part of what his work is about.

Mullinex is a Cincinnati-based, multi-media, landscape artist whose works have been featured in exhibitions at Xavier University Art Gallery, Los Manos Gallery in Chicago IL, and at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton OH. Blown: Paintings by rwmullinex previously exhibited at the Kansas City Artists Coalition in 2012.

Also showing at the Center for the Arts, in the Perimeter Gallery, Pastels, Southern Style, on view through Apr. 13, and the 5th Congressional Art Competition from Apr. 16 through May 2, 2014. In the Edmund Lewandowski Classroom Gallery, Winthrop University’s Senior Graphics Show, is on view through Apr. 11, 2014. There will be a gallery reception in honor of the Winthrop University’s students at the Center for the Arts on Friday, Apr. 4, beginning at 6pm.

O’Darby’s Fine Wine and Spirits is the presenting sponsor of Seeking the Sublime, an exhibition by Seth Rouser, J. Michael Simpson, Robert Mullinex.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Arts Council at 803/328-2787 or visit (www.yorkcountyarts.org).

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