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  • From: "Steve Wright" <swright AT townofchapelhill.org>
  • To: <chpac-staff AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Chpac-staff] CHPAC In News: 9:05:08
  • Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2008 09:37:30 -0400

Dear CHPAC,

 

Linked and reproduced below is an article in today's news on one of our two new exhibits.  FYI, the Town Hall reception for tonight has been postponed, but the Library reception scheduled for tomorrow from 2:30 pm to 4 pm is still on.

 

-Steve

 

- Local artists open modern art exhibit

John Labadie is testing the senses, showing the very mechanism and molecules of sight in his works of art.

http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2008/09/05/City/Local.Artists.Open.Modern.Art.Exhibit-3416728.shtml

 

 

Local artists open modern art exhibit

Public art project funded by town

By: Katy Doll, Senior Writer

Posted: 9/5/08

John Labadie is testing the senses, showing the very mechanism and molecules of sight in his works of art.

"My real interest is in representing those things that are beyond our sensory threshold," he said, adding that the images are literally the molecular make-up of rods and cones and other sensory elements.

The work of Labadie, Luis Cesar Frias Leal and Carol Retsch-Bogart, all mixed-media artists, opens Friday at the Chapel Hill Town Hall and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.

The trio were selected from submissions to the Public Arts Commission, which aims to enhance and enliven the community through public art, said Steve Wright, Chapel Hill public arts coordinator. The work is funded by a town ordinance which requires 1 percent of some capital projects to be dedicated to public art.

Labadie lived in Taiwan for a year and a half, and his interaction with the historical traditions and pop culture made a lasting impression on his work.

"What it involved more than anything else is what it's like to be a contemporary artist connecting to Asian pop culture, but at the same time being thoroughly a Westerner," he said.

His work takes two forms in the show: accordion-folded books dealing with the senses and 11 scrolls for 11 months of his stay abroad.

The scrolls detail his experiences month by month, pulling from his simple walks down the street, to not understanding the food he was eating, to almost being thrown out of the country for problems with his visa, Labadie said.

Retsch-Bogart uses levels of meaning in her work, layering paint, paper and pastels to echo people's layered emotions.

Frias Leal uses items from everyday life, such as magazines, and creates collages that tell an emotional story.

All three artists use mixed media and grapple with communication, whether it's between cultures or within a person's experiences.

"Abstract is an area where we've done less in the past," said Scott Radway, chairman of the exhibitions committee, which selects the artists. "This is an opportunity to do that with some good art works."

Although people in Chapel Hill can travel to a museum of modern art, they do not often have a chance to see modern art from local artists, Radway said. The three artists all live in North Carolina.

As part of the Public Arts Commission, Chapel Hill Public Library also will play host to an exhibit of two photographers.

The Town Hall exhibit's reception was postponed due to the threat of Hurricane Hanna and probably will be held later in September, Wright said.



COME FOR THE OPENING
Time:
2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday
Location: Chapel Hill Public Library
Info: www.chapelhillarts.org



Contact the City Editor at citydesk AT unc.edu.


© Copyright 2008 Daily Tar Heel



  • [Chpac-staff] CHPAC In News: 9:05:08, Steve Wright, 09/05/2008

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