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July Issue 2007
House of Ahhs in Beaufort, SC, Features Works by Ken Gentle
The House of Ahhs in Beaufort, SC, will present the exhibit, Blacktop, featuring the first showing of works by outsider artist, Ken Gentle, on view from July 7 - 14, 2007.
Southern folk artist Ken Gentle "Blacktop" was born and raised in Alabama, but now makes Georgia his home. He received tremendous encouragement from family and friends while growing up "to paint". Gentle has been painting for most of his life using watercolors, enamels and acrylics. Most of his paintings start with a base of "black tar" on wood, hence the name "Blacktop".
Jimmy Buffett's ballad, Life is just a Tire Swing is the musical version of Blacktop's Afternoon Fun. Portraying a tire swing, sleeping tree branches, fence posts and other areas of this wonderful painting is the carving of black tar through the paint. Just as the undercoating of tar gives depth to his paintings, Blacktop's paintings give depth to the culture of the rapidly evaporating Southern lifestyle.
Every now and then we get the chance to see a perfect little painting. Blacktop's Little Pecky Hen is an example of such a painting. Perfectly portrayed bygone days of chickens in the yard, bring memories to the minds of those old enough to have experienced the good old days.
Rural southern scenes of old houses, churches, farm life, crows, and baptisms are some of Blacktop's favorite subjects. His paintings tell stories of growing up in the south where simple pleasures of life are important and cherished. Just Passing gives one the feeling of a lazy afternoon sitting on the porch watching the crows as they rest their wings. In Blacktop's painting of Chorus, we watch the old familiar electric wires lined with crows. The artist tells us of his grandpa taking the buckboard wagon to town. Hitting a rut and breaking a wheel, grandpa looked up and saw the crows on the line, they wisely told him, "Caw, Car". This inspired the young boy to get a car and to paint this folk art piece.
Time Past and Chicken Dinner brings to mind the homesteads of long ago. Memories of sharecroppers humble dwellings stay with those of us who were raised in the South. "Blacktop" paints these houses as if we were there to catch a peek of the quiet dignity which once was the heart of the rural American South.
For further information check our SC Commercial
Gallery listings, call the gallery at 843/379-1800 or e-mail at
(houseofahhs@hargray.com).
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