Here Goes Everything
Guen Montgomery + Sage Perrott
February 17-April 9, 2023 // Gallery 1
Using humor and the absurd, artists Sage Perrott and Guen Montgomery present Here Goes Everything, a celebratory critique of our cultural obsession with consumerism in our post-pandemic lives. The collaborative installation comprises of printmaking, sculpture and video components.
Spectacle
Louisa Armbrust
February 17-April 2, 2023 // Gallery 2
Through drawings, paintings and a site specific shelter, Artist Louisa Armbrust provides visitors a respite from the constant spectacle of technology. Our lives are often fragmented from the oversaturation of images and information we consume. This exhibition highlights the isolation that comes from this split existence while offering a means to escape.
About a Dream
Clarence Heyward
March 3-April 30, 2023 // Upfront Gallery
Clarence Heyward’s work investigates cultural truths, challenges stereotypes, and questions identity. He believes it’s important to “paint his truth” and uses persons of color as subjects in his work as homage to his culture.
Beginning his journey as a full-time artist in 2019, he is best known for his dynamic and fresh take on figurative art. Heyward relocated to North Carolina to study Art Education at North Carolina Central University.
He has shown his work nationally and has been featured in venues including the 21c Museum of Durham, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for Cultural Arts, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, and (CAM) the Contemporary Art Museum of Raleigh.
Heyward was the recipient of The Brightwork Fellowship residency at Anchorlight, Raleigh in 2020, the Emerging Artist in Residence at Artspace, Raleigh in 2021 and was the 2022 Artist in Residence at NC State University.
Maroon Maroon
Curated by Duane Cyrus
April 14-June 25, 2023 // Gallery 1
Maroon Maroon will feature the work of five national and international photographers, Ajamu, Kelly Ann Bobb, Duane Cyrus, Devin Newkirk, and Cameron Ugbodu. This curated show organized by choreographer Duane Cyrus will include projections, as well as framed and unframed photographic prints, exploring the complexity and beauty of the black male body. The exhibition will also include site specific performances and additional installation elements that create a physical connection between visitors to the space and the work on view.
Myth is to History as History is to Myth
Shawn Campbell
April 14-June 4, 2023 // Gallery 2
The American Cowboy is more of a Myth than a man who herds cattle, it is an illusion of a set of ideas that are presented to the world as a way to strive. These ideas include, but are not limited to: being honest, hard working, be a gentleman, be tough, and be short and to the point. The cowboy, like the American dream, is something that has been assembled to present to the masses as a way they should forge themselves to become something better.
The construction of the American cowboy is based on fact and fiction, it is always changing and repositioning itself with the passing of time. The Myth of the American Cowboy has had the ability to embed itself on a global scale, muddying the waters of what is glorified and what was fact. Campbell’s work builds upon these aspects presenting information to viewers in a way that allows for a personal discovery into the world of the mythos of the American Cowboy.
NC Emerging Artist in Residence Exhibition
Tayler Drattlo
May 5-June 25, 2023 // Upfront Gallery
Tayler Drattlo was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. While growing up in her grandfathers Tejano night club, “Randy’s Ballroom,” she was surrounded by neon lights that illuminated the stage and dance floor. This exposure in her youth pushed her to re-create the colorfully lit environment in her adulthood. She studied Neon Design at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, and started her career in the neon sign industry. Drattlo studied the craft of neon under multiple master benders, fine-tuning her skill set in tube bending and neon processing. Her neon art is heavily influenced by traditional neon sign making.
Drattlo believes strongly in preserving the craft of neon while pushing the boundaries of the advertisement medium. You can find her work in person at Cat Eye Creative in Atlanta, Georgia, and Art on 12 Gallery in Wimberly, Texas. She was a 2021 Emerging Artist in Residence at Artspace.