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August Issue 2005
Hampton III Gallery in Taylors, SC, Features Works by Sigmund Abeles
Hampton
III Gallery in Taylors, SC, just outside of Greenville, SC, is
hosting the exhibition, Sigmund Abeles: Now and Then, on
view from Aug. 25 through Oct. 2, 2005. The exhibition will include
over 100 paintings, drawings and prints from the years 1951-2003.
Most of the works will feature the figure for which Abeles is
known; however, a grouping of work will cover the early years
when Abeles resided in South Carolina.
Born in New York in 1934, Abeles' ties with South Carolina go back to 1936 when his mother moved the two of them to Myrtle Beach. It was in the low country of South Carolina that Abeles' fascination with art developed. Abeles states, "Sculpture at Brookgreen Gardens is the first art I ever saw. It was big, powerful, and I wondered how anyone could ever have done that. Trucks would go pass my mother's boarding house carrying wrapped, draped figures. Sometimes I'd see an exposed leg or arm. My steps were my world." Abeles frequented the gardens and first drew the human figure from the stones. Two of his first works painted at Brookgreen are featured in the gallery's current exhibition.
In the early 50's during his formal years of
training, Abeles went back and forth from the Art Student's League
in New York to University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC. In
1955, he received a scholarship to study at Skowhegan in Maine,
and, in 1956, a scholarship to study print-making at the Brooklyn
Museum School. While many artists during those years were pursuing
Abstract Expressionism, Abeles stood firm in Representational
Art. After a period of service in the US Army, Abeles returned
to South Carolina, hoping for a teaching position. When nothing
materialized, he landed in New England teaching in Massachusetts
and then at the University of New Hampshire from 1970-1987.
Drawing is still the foundation of Abeles' work. "I draw
all the time. For me, drawing is a lifeline to life," says
Abeles. In a recent conversation Abeles reflects, "I love
drawing things alive. I love life. I can only get involved with
subjects that have eyes. I look at a crowd, and someone stands
out. Everything an artist does is through selection. Editing is
through selection. I don't think you get universality through
generalization. I deal with specifics."
One work in the exhibition is Abeles' reaction
to 9/11: Who Can Forget How Blue the Sky Was Beforehand?.
The artist was in his Manhattan studio on the upper west side
the morning the planes hit. This work has been on tour, but will
be presented for the first time in South Carolina on the exhibit's
opening night. The subject is a self portrait (front and back)
of Abeles grasping the air, falling from the sky.
Sigmund Abeles work has been collected by private and public collections
throughout the United States and abroad. Museums that have his
work in their permanent collections include The British Museum
and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; the Metropolitan,
MOMA, and the Whitney Museum in New York; the Fine Arts Museum
in San Francisco, The Art Institute in Chicago, among others.
Abeles will give a talk about his work on Aug. 25, 2005, at Hampton III Gallery at 8pm.
Abeles has three works owned by the Columbia Museum of Art in the exhibition, A Body of Work: The Human Figure from Degas to Diebenkorn, on view through Oct. 2, 2005, at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC. Abeles will give a gallery talk at the Museum on Aug. 20, 2005, at noon and then a Demonstration and Workshop, that same day from 2-4pm. For info call 803/799-2810.
Works by Abeles are also on view at the McKissick Museum of Art at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC, in the exhibit, Highlights from the Permanent Collection: Prints by Sigmund Abeles, on view through Sept. 17, 2005.
For further information check our SC Commercial
Gallery listings, call the gallery at 864-268-2771, or a (www.hamptonlllgallery.com).
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