| For more information about this article or gallery, please call the gallery phone number listed in the last line of the article, "For more info..." |
August Issue 2009
Artists' Guild
of Spartanburg in Spartanburg, SC, Offers Works by David McPherson
The Artists' Guild of Spartanburg in Spartanburg, SC, will present the exhibit, Free Art, an exhibit of works by David McPherson, on view in the Guild Gallery at the Chapman Cultural Center, from Aug. 1 - 29, 2009.
McPherson, a Spartanburg native, returned to the area three years ago from Arizona, where he had developed his style of painting that he calls "large colorful abstractions with modernist influences."
The idea for Free Art came to the artist when he was planning for the show, the concept combining both the practical and philosophical approach that he takes to his art. "I've always wanted to be able to use my art to give back to my community," McPherson says. "So I decided to let the visitors to my exhibit participate in the resurrection/destruction of an art career. I call it an art stimulus package for the common man."
Though a few of the works in the exhibit will be for sale, most of the work, especially large canvasses, will be offered free of charge. Each family that wants to take home a piece will be assigned a number, with a drawing of winning numbers to be held at the end of the exhibit. Recipients of the "free art" will then be able to take the pieces home.
McPherson is struck by the irony that his works that sold in galleries in Arizona for thousands of dollars, have become worth less from a monetary standpoint because of his move back to South Carolina and the state of the economy.
"Once I admitted to myself that its spiritual quality is really what art is about for me, I became interested in sharing it with those who were interested in it, regardless of their income,' the artist, also an English teacher at the Spartanburg Day School, says, remembering how much he would have liked to have owned art when he was younger and making $6 an hour.
"I want to send the message that the true spirit of creativity and inspiration is and should be open to everyone. This is the other meaning of "Free Art". Art that has been freed of its status as an object to be gathered as a commodity is "Freed Art".
By deciding to give away his work, McPherson feels that he too is being freed from the constraints of "having sales in the back of my mind' when creating a work of art. "I have rediscovered the simple joy of making work without thinking about 'the market'," he says.
For further information
check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call Laura Pinkley
at 864/764-9568 or e-mail at (artistsguildofspartanburg@gmail.com).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2009 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2009 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.