The New Albany Public Art Project: Bicentennial Series is a multi-year outdoor exhibition that interprets New Albany's rich history and heritage. As part of the 2013 installment, Georgetown College's Boris Zakic was selected to address the theme of artist, artmaking, and local heritage. The result is an installation of several canvasses measuring 60 x 22 feet created by Zakic and students in his "Impasto Mannerisms" class taught at Georgetown College this past spring.
The work has recently been installed and will make its official debut on Saturday, June 22 as part of the 2013 Art Walk. Details here.
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| Painting, 2013 |
Titled Painting, I see the work as interpreting the historic theme of visual arts and artists through crimson and clover gestures that neither contain nor are contained by their substrate.
About the piece, Boris stated the work is "in homage to George W. Morrison, New Albany’s first visual artist of note....[and]...celebrates his legacy and each of the local artists who have followed in his footsteps. The image...combines hints of a portrait of Morrison with two larger-than-life brushstrokes." About Morrison, Boris noted, “Morrison might have been a conventionalist, but to me, he is a paradox nevertheless. On one hand, he is a portraitist, a painstaking craftsman in oil paint. On the other, he also appears as the portrait of a pioneering spirit himself at the mercy of currents and politics of the time. The more I looked into this past I was beginning to see myself in it... What brings the shared histories of Morrison and painters of today together, I believe is the moment at which, for example, the artists mirror themselves in their initial gestures, as if witnessing their own becoming in the paint.”
Readers of this blog will remember a post only two months ago when we were photographing the beginning...the barely-primed canvas in our Wilson Gallery on Saturday, April 6th, 2013. See below.
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| Michele, Bob, with students Mallory, Tayler, Alex, Ariel, and Steven along with Boris and me (photo by Mike Calhoun) |
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Boris's presentation about the project at the Artist Breakfast
  
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After many hours of work, the work is installed and on view.
Take a jaunt over to New Albany to see the work. Map: click here. It's just over the river, in Indiana.
In fact, make it a point to come out on Saturday, June 22nd for the Art Walk.
Congratulations to Boris and the team of student artists who brought this project to fruition. And, thanks of course to New Albany for supporting public art in such a meaningful, well-connected, and focused way.
About the project: The New Albany Public Art Project: Bicentennial Series affords the community the opportunity to experience these visions of the past through the work of artists who are selected for their expertise and address of a particular theme. It originated from a partnership between the Carnegie Center for Art & History and the New Albany Urban Enterprise Association. It perfectly aligns the mission of the Carnegie Center for Art & History to present and interpret our community's history and to promote an appreciation of the visual arts with the Urban Enterprise Association's mission to improve New Albany's urban core.
Readers of the blog may remember another connection to this New Albany project: In the spring of 2010, five temporary works of art were installed in the downtown historic district, including a work by Georgetown College's Daniel Graham.
Helpful links:
New Albany Public Art Project:
http://www.napublicart.org/2013-sites-and-histories.php
Time-lapse video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRCx4K1hySs
(Please note: all photographs in this post, with one exception, courtesy of Karen Gillenwater of The Carnegie Center. Thanks, Karen!)
(Please note: all photographs in this post, with one exception, courtesy of Karen Gillenwater of The Carnegie Center. Thanks, Karen!)
1 comment:
This is a great post on Boris's project. Thank you for sharing it. We are honored that we will get to enjoy "Painting" for two years. It is incredible in person so I hope everyone will join us for the Public Art Walk on June 22, 6-9pm.
Thanks!
Karen
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