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August Issue 2004
City Art Gallery in Columbia, SC, Offers Works by Yvette Cummings
Recent MFA graduate from the Department of Art at The University of Cincinnati, Yvette Cummings explores the age-old technique of encaustic with appropriated subject matter which the artist manipulates to become her own. Her solo exhibit at City Art Gallery in Columbia, SC, entitled, Revisited, opens the cultural season on Aug. 28 and continues through Oct. 2, 2004.
Encaustic is a technique used by the ancient
Greeks. The encaustic medium is a mixture of melted wax colored
by dry pigments or traditional oil paint. Once the wax hardens,
a rich, unique texture and finish is produced on the surface.
This technique is of equal importance as the subject matter to
Cummings. "Encaustic is used as a metaphor for the physical
body. Its constant shifts in malleability mirror our own physicality,"
according to Cummings.
The richly colored and textured encaustic paintings explore abstraction
and appropriation. Here, Cummings examines perceptions of sensations
that occur within the body. Cummings incorporates images of women
taken from historic paintings and photographs with the result
representing "silenced atrocities our bodies have undergone
and the physical manifestations that have developed as a result
of these violations," says Cummings.
Cummings uses traditional still life objects
such as fruit and vegetables with appropriated figures to reveal
a relationship between forms found in and outside the body. Her
organic, cell-like structures transcend standard still life subjects
and represent the physical hardships and growth women have faced
over time.
A native of Grand Rapids, MI, Cummings is an adjunct art instructor
at the University of South Carolina and has shown her work in
a number of group exhibitions throughout the Midwest. She received
her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Cincinnati in 2003.
For more information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings,
or contact Marissa Dancer, Executive Assistant, City Art Gallery,
at 803/252-3613 or at (www.cityartonline.com).
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