There were several openings on Friday night (September 9th) so I thought I'd step out and see a couple.
(1) The Art Museum at the University of Memphis (AMUM) opened their Nick Cave Memphis Heavyweight exhibit. The exhibit included video, sculpture, and photos taken from and during the Heavyweight parade in April 2011. I actually participated in this parade helping to create the Rock'em Sock'em Robot/Anti-Bullying float and was happy to see one of the giant robots in all of its 12' glory on display. Sadly, the two robots in the float had to be reduced due to heavier-than-expected winds on the day of the parade. U of M staff were able to secure a lengthy, but very interesting, interview with Cave about the project which was shown in constant loop at the back of the exhibit. I highly recommend the show to anyone who participated in or saw the parade or just wants to see Memphis art students in action.
(2) Greely Myatt, a working Memphis artist and sculpture professor at the University of Memphis, had an opening at the Lusk Gallery. The speech bubbles which are so prominent in many of his other works appeared here as well. Myatt had several pieces on display at Lusk including a giant metal sculpture, painted mostly with primary colors, in the front lobby that could be stepped through. This and the large, fanned out, wrought-iron screens in the back of the gallery utilized light and shadow as much as they did metal and elbow grease. The large screens in particular had three different light sources casting a complicate shadow on the wall behind. Myatt even had some print work on display one of which depicted a conversation bubble storm cloud utilizing what appeared to be a very intricate--and hugely varied--group of screens or wood cuts to create an interesting cacophony of silent sound. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to meet Myatt while at the gallery.
Have you ever taken a class from Greely? It was a good show. It was really crowded so I didnt see you.
ReplyDeleteNo, but I'm familiar with some of his work. In fact, I've never met him. My girlfriend is an ArtEd grad student and she had Greely for Sculpture I. Her description got me interested so I looked him up. I was at Lusk close to the beginning--around 6:30p or so. The gallery wasn't very busy at the time. I think there were perhaps 20 or so folks. I agree it was a good show. What I had seen from Greely previously was a bit controversial, but the sculptures and printwork at Lusk seemed a bit more tame. I don't know if that would be a good thing ordinarily but in this case I liked what I saw.
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