George Long
dal 5/4/2007 al 29/4/2007
Segnalato da
5/4/2007
George Long
Joie Lassiter Gallery, Charlotte
Long combines two dimensional painting and drawing with sculptural elements such as cast resin, carved wood, and found objects in works that are infused with personal histories.
8 x 8
Joie Lassiter Gallery announces "8 x 8" - the premier exhibition for George Long. This exhibit opens Friday, April 6th, and will be on view through the
end of April. George Long received his BFA from the Atlanta College of Art
in 1995 and currently lives and works in Atlanta. Over the past three years,
George Long has developed an ongoing Series of small mixed media paintings
entitled 8 x 8. This simple intimate and modular format, allows the artist
the freedom to work quickly while expressing singular, solitary moments
which together share a highly personal yet unconventional approach to story
telling.
George Long combines two dimensional painting and drawing with sculptural
elements such as cast resin, carved wood, and found objects in works that
are infused with personal histories. The materials utilized and the varying
depth of the compositions defies the constraints of two dimensional
painting, placing the work into the realm of objects.
8 x 8 was inspired by his grandmothers' quilts for their form, pattern and
narrative quality. "My father has a quilt hanging in his house in which the
fabric of my great-great grandmother was collected, cut into squares, and
combined with the fabric of my great grandmother. My great grandmother sewed
the squares together and then my grandmother finished and backed the piece,"
explains Long. The narrative quality of these quilts unveil visual clues
about his grandmothers' lives through the scraps they collected, gathered
and swapped, while influencing the artist about collecting and making.
For Long the process of collecting not only refers to the material the
artist uses but also to the narratives or "psychological scraps" the artist
explores. Examining his environment, dreams, daily life and relationships,
the artist shares his experiences through a palette of metaphors that
includes animals, fences, mason jars, and tools. "For me, the gathering
process can mean a leftover piece of material from a day's work, some
anxious bunnies as a metaphor of the prospect of being a new parent, simple
reminders, of virtue and vise, and remnants that I have pack-ratted away.
Everything is potential material," states Long.
Recently George Long had a solo exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art and
a featured inclusion in the Jacksonville Museum of Art's "Activating Space:
Sculpture as Environment" exhibition, curated by George Kinghorn. Long
recently returned from a prestigious residency at the International Kunstler
Kolonie in Nuremburg, Germany.
Joie Lassiter Gallery
1440 South Tryon Street, suite 104 - Charlotte