In 2003, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and on the eve of the Iraq War, photographer Jack Spencer embarked on a journey to see America for himself. Thirteen years, 48 states and 80,000 miles later, an epic and timely photographic portrait of the American landscape had emerged.
The latest exhibition in this long-standing showcase for outstanding regional contemporary art focuses on the surrealistic paintings of this celebrated Memphis artist. In her creative practice, Edwards approaches her recent subjects of enlarged flowers and animated landscapes from the viewpoint of a still life painter who has been long involved in the domestic realm and with common objects. Edwards has been particularly fascinated by the way in which certain toys exemplify both the animate and inanimate spheres of existence. Moreover, she is interested in the particular cultural connotations of toys, such as in what ways they imprint cultural perspectives upon children. Organized by HMA.
Emily Leonard began her latest series with a watercolor she made while pregnant with her daughter. Although she did not know it at the time, she reminisces, “It brought me a lot of joy to make this picture during my residency in France, and I really wanted to make it into a painting.” While she normally does not prepare studies for her larger works, this special portrait of a foxglove was the origin of all the work that will hang at David Lusk Gallery (DLG) this April and May.
Like many of his fellow Americans, Jack Spencer wasn’t happy when United States forces invaded Iraq in March 2003. His “This Land” series grew out of a deep concern about what kind of country America was at the beginning of the Second Gulf War.
“I was pretty pissed about the U.S. going to war and disgusted with all the American flag waving going on … all the hyper-patriotism that permeated the air during that time,” he says. “I took a 9,000-mile driving trip out and around the West. I tried avoiding the cliché of American flags painted on barn roofs and flags planted everywhere along the way. Then at Wounded Knee (Pine Ridge), there was a small tattered flag on the gatepost of a cemetery high on a hill. It seemed like an indictment, yet the irony was palpable.
“When I got home, I started making the darkroom prints, and for some reason I started distressing them — tearing the edges, gouging the surfaces, splattering them with caustic substances.
The sky is not the limit for artist Veda Reed, it’s just the starting point.
The Oklahoma-native will be exhibiting a collection of her works, inspired by the wide-open skies of the western prairies, at the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art. The exhibit, Veda Reed: Oklahoma Skies, will open March 26 and run through May 12.
An opening reception for Reed will be held at the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art, 511 N. Water St., Tuscumbia, Ala., 35674, at 1 p.m. March 26 where she will meet and talk with visitors.
Reed said she’s influenced by the open landscapes of her home state.
“Actually, I was more down to earth in college and always considered myself a landscape painter,” she said. “Growing up and living in Oklahoma, there are very few trees, one could see the horizon. I began to look up and the sky became the major interest.”
Reed added she doesn’t just paint clouds, but she studies them too.
"In March 2017, University of Texas Press publishes This Land: An American Portrait, a visual meditation on American landscape and identity by longtime Oxford American contributor Jack Spencer. The photographer spent thirteen years working on the project and traveled more than eighty thousand miles across all forty-eight contiguous states looking for scenes and moments that he says, are "an expression of the perception of an ideal."
Critics can usually finesse a relationship between two artists having simultaneous gallery exhibitions, as in “Notice how chartreuse dominates in each of their works” or “You cannot avoid perceiving the resonance between the curvilinear forms each artist employs.” Not so in the case of Rana Rochat’s “New Work” and Dwayne Butcher’s “Memphis,” through April 22 at David Lusk Gallery. Don’t strain at gnats, my friends; just enjoy each artist’s work for what it is and what it accomplishes.
It is currently Armory Week in New York City. The 11 art fairs, consisting of hundreds of galleries and thousands of artists, are spread across Manhattan. Memphis’ own David Lusk Gallery is participating in Art on Paper. Full disclosure, I am represented by DLG and have eight pieces in this fair. Other artists from the gallery that are participating are Maysey Craddock, Anne Siems, William Christenberry, Kathleen Holder, Tyler Hildebrand, and Tim Crowder.
Jack Spencer, modern master of American photography, has two new books of work coming out this spring. The first, titled This Land, captures with consummate artistry the heart-stopping grandeur we take for granted in this abundant country, your land and mine.
