Memphis Flyer: Art

Grit and Grace

letters@memphisflyer.com (Carol Knowles) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0600

Work by Estes, McIntire, and Ledbetter. by Carol Knowles For his David Lusk exhibition "From Peace Mountain," Don Estes takes birch plywood, vinyl spackling, paint, plaster, and graphite and creates artworks that evoke Barnett Newman's "zips," Mark Rothko's luminous colors, Kasimir Malevich's blinding whites, and Claude Monet's Impressionism synthesized with such originality that the end result is unequivocally Estes. Each of the seven horizontal bands that make up Peace Mounain 6 is a work of art unto itself. The bottom of the painting, for example, is a haunting piece…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

All in One

letters@memphisflyer.com (Carol Knowles) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0500

Ponce masterpieces at the Brooks. by Carol Knowles Masterpieces of European Painting from Museum de Arte de Ponce," the largest and one of the most accomplished exhibitions ever mounted at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, covers nearly 600 years and every major movement of European painting including Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, Romantic, and Modernist art. Complex symbolism, powerful storytelling, expressive brushwork, and poignant, sometimes merciless, emotional realism make the paintings in this exhibition masterpieces in every sense of the word. One of the show's most…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Visionaries

letters@memphisflyer.com (Carol Knowles) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0500

Veda Reed, Anne Davey, and Mary Long-Postal take us to the edge. by Carol Knowles In "Veda Reed: Keep Looking Up," the current exhibition at David Lusk Gallery, Reed demonstrates her mastery of glazed skyscapes as she takes us on a journey across large, luminous Midwestern skies to intimations of immortality to transcendence tinged with terror. Color and tone seamlessly gradate from glowing lavender to deep purple to midnight blue to a nearly black but still luminous sky accented with a slender white arc above a single point of light in Venus and the Crescent…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

One-of-a-Kind

letters@memphisflyer.com (Carol Knowles) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:00:00 -0500

The spotlight is on Greely Myatt. by Carol Knowles Who is Greely Myatt? How could he merit eight running art exhibitions, an unprecedented event in the history of Memphis and the Mid-South? Explore some of his 80-plus installations and sculptures currently on view at Memphis galleries, museums, and alternative spaces, collectively titled "Greely Myatt and exactly Twenty Years," and you'll discover that Myatt is one-of-a-kind. Part artist, part Buddha, part son of the South, Myatt has produced a body of work that's both complex and laced with sly humor…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Into the Fire

letters@memphisflyer.com (Carol Knowles) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:00:00 -0500

The making of American masters. by Carol Knowles [image-1] Bold, Cautious, True: Walt Whitman and American Art of the Civil War Era," the tremendously moving exhibition at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, is not a blockbuster. It's a slow burn, the kind of burn that incises heart and mind with images of civil war. Dixon director Kevin Sharp wrote the catalog and curated the show, which includes paintings, prints, and sculptures on loan from such prestigious museums as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Fine…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Paper Play

letters@memphisflyer.com (Carol Knowles) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:00:00 -0500

"Works on Paper" at L Ross. by Carol Knowles [image-1] L Ross Gallery's annual show "Works on Paper" affords talented newcomers and already accomplished artists an opportunity to play with ideas and experiment with signature styles. Chuck Johnson's latest watercolors are brighter and more transparent than his encaustics on panel and take us deeper into botanical worlds that Johnson (an avid gardener) knows well. The iridescent insects, burnt-sienna fronds, and opalescent-blue waters take us beyond polluted rivers and depleted farmlands into still-teeming pools, still-fecund tracts of earth. Small ink-and-gouache…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]