August Issue 2001
City Art in Columbia, SC, Features Exhibition on Color
Color! Selected Works, is an exhibition featuring works by Bruce Nellsmith, Betty Bramlett, Phil Garrett, Walt Simpson, and Ed Shmunes. The exhibit, on display in the Main Gallery at City Art, in the historic Congaree Vista, in Columbia, SC, will be on view through Aug. 31.
A summer exhibition at City Art highlights the expressive use of color by five contemporary artists. While the approaches in their chosen medium are quite different, these recognized artists bring a strong sense of color to their respective work. The exhibit features acrylic paintings, mixed media, monotypes, constructed canvases, photographs and digital prints. The dramatic use of color in all these works suggests a new boldness in contemporary art, one that replaces the paradigm of the limited palette of the late twentieth century with a celebration of color.
Bruce Nellsmith's use of color blends with vigorous lines and shapes to produce visually ebullient abstract paintings. In the three large works in acrylic - 401 II, 401 Ox Bow, and Autumn Aurora - the numbers 4, 0, and 1 are powerful graphic marks that define fields of color, primarily in reds, oranges, gold, and aquamarine. An intriguing aspect of his work is that while the individual elements are energetic and full of movement, the overall effect is serene.
Betty Bramlett's works in mixed media feature cutout and torn collage-type figures, all rendered in contrasting and layered colors. In works such as Birds in Flight and Beyond the Looking Glass, Bramlett creates imaginative spaces with layers of blues and greens adjacent to areas of ambers and reds. The pieces draw upon mythic and iconic imagery as they also evoke the graphic folkloric design of indigenous textiles.
Phil Garrett's use of color in printmaking proves the versatility and creative freedom of the monotype. These works feature Garrett's interest in the horse, and his rendering of the animal, either in a still profile or in an active gesture, suggests the horse's power as mythic icon. The sunset reds and midnight blues, however, give the images a heightened drama, making the works akin to the spirit of the writings of Cormac McCarthy.
One wall of the Main Gallery at City Art is filled with the "house" and "road" paintings of Walt Simpson. His works, inspired in part by outsider art, boldly announce images of old clapboard houses. In lieu of canvas, Simpson often constructs his painted space on boards taken from these types of dwellings, a gesture that literally supports the imagery. Other works on display evoke neighborhoods of close brick houses and the roads that connect them.
Finally, the work of photographer Ed Shmunes
revels in color. He looks for the interplay and patterns of color,
and in much of his work, especially in his digital prints, he
makes the colors iridescent and hyper real. He has said that he
often leans "toward colors that are somewhat removed from
reality." The works in the exhibit demonstrate the artist's
versatility in composition as well as his ability to arouse a
new way of seeing, especially the signs and symbols of everyday
life.
City Art's summer hours are Mon.-Fri., 10am-6pm. For more information
check our SC Commercial Gallery listings or call the gallery at
803/252-3613 or visit their website at (http://www.cityartonline.com).
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
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Carolina Arts
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