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