The New Gallery at APSU launches inaugural exhibition
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. 鈥 The New Gallery, with support from the Austin Peay State University Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts and the APSU Department of Art + Design, will present Jamey Grimes: Eclipse, to kick off the department鈥檚 2017-18 exhibition season. The New Gallery is the new exhibition space in the University鈥檚 new Art + Design Building.
鈥淲ith the first exhibition in the new gallery space in the new Art + Design building, I began thinking about space as a primary art element,鈥 Michael Dickins, APSU director of galleries, said. 鈥淚 wanted to bring in an artist whose work deals with the transformation of space and was instantly reminded of Jamey鈥檚 work. Upon initial conversations with Mr. Grimes, we realized the schedule would coincide with the upcoming solar eclipse, and then the word 鈥榮pace鈥 took on a secondary meaning. Mr. Grimes has created an installation specifically for The New Gallery and the historic solar eclipse. This contemporary art exhibition will celebrate space in a way that will transform the viewer鈥檚 conception of what a traditional gallery space is to what it could be.鈥
In Eclipse, multiple surfaces collide in a whirlpool of light and shadow. Colors change over time, dynamically shifting the viewer鈥檚 interpretation of depth and form. This environment is intended to be both stirring and serene. Eclipse contemplates the artist鈥檚 relationship to natural forces, both real and imagined.
The exhibit opens Aug. 28 at The New Gallery and runs through Sept. 21. In correlation with the University鈥檚 upcoming PeayCLIPSE festivities, special exhibition previews will occur from 4 鈥 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 19, and from 9 a.m. 鈥 4 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 21. A lunchtime reception and gallery talk by the artist will take place at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21, in The New Gallery.
Grimes lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he teaches in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Alabama, and through Auburn University鈥檚 Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project. Grimes has shown his artwork widely throughout the U.S., including exhibitions at Kendall Galleries (Grand Rapids, Michigan), Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (Wilmington), FAT Village (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida), Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (Grand Rapids) and Whitespace Gallery (Atlanta, Georgia). He is a former Alabama State Council on the Visual Arts Fellowship recipient, and the Arts Council of Tuscaloosa named him the 2014 Visual Arts Educator of the Year.
For more information on this exhibition, which is free and open to the public, contact Michael Dickins, Director of Galleries, at dickinsm@apsu.edu.