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September Issue 2003
The Art Bomb Cmpany in Greenville, SC, Features Group Exhibition
Die Auflösung, an explosion of over 100 works of art by four Greenville, SC, artists premieres at The Art Bomb Company in Greenville, SC, on Sept. 8, from 6-10pm. The exhibit continues through Sept. 22, 2003.
The works for sale include large-scale oil paintings, detailed linocuts, pencil and charcoal drawings, hand-colored etchings and exquisite silk screens. All works are representative of the explorations, media and personalities of artists Daniel Cvammen, Darryl DeBruhl, Gray Ferguson and David Parker.
According to Cvammen, "The idea for a group show developed this year when I was pushing Gray and David to rediscover drawing for themselves outside the walls of work at Erwin-Penland. Not only did the show provide a defined goal to reach, but it motivated us to create something different and exciting for the local arts community," added Cvammen. "So we brought in another talented artist - Darryl DeBruhl - and made a pact that at least 90% of our work would be new pieces inspired by the show, said Cvammen. This show is the pinnacle of our collaborative work from June through August - and why the show is aptly titled, Die Auflösung, translation the explosion."
Daniel Cvammen was born in the little town of BethlehemPennsylvania. His family moved on to Ohio and Tampa and then settled to south Florida when he was in the sixth grade.
Most of Cvammen's schooling revolved around science and math. He thought he was going to be a doctor. Insert laughter. He took some art classes and always had a pencil in his hand, but it took him until the end of his junior year to realize that he didn't want to be a pre-med student. His senior year was spent mostly in art classes developing his love for art.
Cvammen went on to Bob Jones University, earning a BFA in Studio Art and continues to paint, draw, and carve anything and everything. During the day one can find him hanging with those 'advertising types' down at Erwin Penland Advertising where he works as a graphic designer on the Cafe Enterprises and Uniroyal accounts. In his spare time, Cvammen provides pro-bono design expertise for the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.
Darryl DeBruhl, or VonBruhl as he signs his name in German, was born in Greenville, SC. As a child he would get in trouble in class for doodling on his paper or turning in homework with some sort of drawing on it. Of course, this talent was passed down from his father, Alonzo.
After graduating high school with many art competitions already under his belt, DeBruhl attended Greenville Tech. From there, his first job was for a local screen printer as a graphic artist.
Seeing the opportunity at hand, he and his brother opened a screen printing business with the help of their father. DeBruhl's serigraph prints are spin-offs of his work and talent as an artist, combining his photography and his skill as a printer. (His wife reminds him - a starving artist.)
DeBruhl has held many stand-alone and multi-artists shows in the past eight years, including one premiering his daughter's artwork in combination with his serigraphs. DeBruhl still works at the same screen printing business, D-Zign & M-Printz, as a plant manager, graphic artist, production manager, repair man, and son.
Gray Ferguson was born in Las Vegas, NV. At the age of nine, her family moved to Louisville, KY, where she studied aviation in high school to get her private pilot's license.
Ferguson was months away from enlisting with the US Navy to be a pilot, when she noticed a flyer posted in the hall way of her high school. The flyer turned out to be an ad for the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, GA.
Thinking she had nothing to lose, she wrote SCAD a letter and asked for a catalog to be sent to her. Weeks went by, and then she got an invitation from SCAD to attend their annual "sidewalk arts festival".
While down in Savannah, Ferguson sought out the athletic director for the school, thinking that'd be her only way into such a college with no formal art background (other than an airbrush job she had for a few years in the mall).
Ferguson got lucky... real lucky. The school was seeking athletes for their division III program - so they offered her a full scholarship to SCAD. She not only played soccer, basketball & softball - but graduated with a 3.8 GPA and received her BFA in both illustration and graphic design in 1998.
Immediately following her undergrad degree, Ferguson completed her master's degree in graphic design in 2000. Currently, Ferguson works as an art director at Erwin-Penland where she supervises creative design work on many of the agency's clients.
David Parker was born in Stillwater, OK, in 1976, where he lived for two years before his family moved to San Antonio, TX.
It was in Texas were Parker's interest in art began. His major influence artistically was his mother who was an illustrator/graphic designer.
Parker went on to graduate high school from Bay High in Panama City, FL. Upon graduation he received a wrestling scholarship to Anderson College, in Anderson, SC, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design.
After college Parker was hired on at Erwin-Penland Advertising as an Interactive Designer working primarily on websites and CD-ROMs for clients including Verizon Wireless, BMW, Wachovia and Uniroyal.
Die Auflösung is sponsored by The Art Bomb Company, a non-profit organization that provides working studio space for local Greenville artists and seeks to promote visual arts in the South Carolina Upstate area. The building, renovated entirely by the artists, served as the company store for Brandon Mill, where baseball legend Shoeless Joe Jackson worked and played baseball. The Shoeless Joe Memorial Ballpark is just a few blocks away. Sixteen artists currently work in this space including potters, photographers, painters and metalsmiths.
For more information check our SC Commercial Gallery listing or call to schedule visits and tours at 864/220-3131.
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