Francesco Polenghi: Transcendence
Upper Gallery
Open by appointment
Exhibition Catalogue
"Polenghi remains very much an artist yet to be discovered."
Barry Schwabsky, Artforum
In the late 1970s, Francesco Polenghi had a personal, spiritual crisis and went to India, where he studied in an ashram for approximately 13 years. There he learned a mantra that he continued to recite when he returned to Milan, where he painted for the rest of his life in a trancelike state.
"In a strange way, [Francesco Polenghi's] paintings squared the circle by combining the meditative calm of Agnes Martin’s work with the vibratory molecular excitation of Op art."
Barry Schwabsky, Artforum
"My father believed that your time on this planet is not important—it's about transcending to a higher plane of existence."
Dara Polenghi
"[Polenghi works in] a sort of psychic automatism that allows the artist to remove himself from the surrounding world... Going over the initial design several times suggests a mantra, a spiritual formula."
Demetrio Paparoni
Mike Ousley: Two Fiddles
Lower Gallery
Open by appointment
Exhibition Catalogue
"I knew an old fiddler named Art Stamper. He had a big case with two fiddles in it.
Art said the cherry fiddle was for playing the dance tunes. The honey-colored fiddle was for sweet sounding things.
There is a duality to everything in Appalachia. It can at once be breathtakingly beautiful, and also darker and more ominous."
Mike Ousley
“Ousley’s jewel-like paintings tell narratives that are ostensibly playful, even whimsical, like the parables of Heironymous Bosch.”
Michael Rooks,
Curator of Contemporary Art, High Museum
“I decided I wanted to take my painting back to the way I created images as a child, inspired by the visionary art of Kentucky and other Southern Folk artists... The storytelling traditions of Appalachia are a powerful influence. ”
Mike Ousley
Beverly Pepper / Outdoor Sculpture
Currently on view by appointment only
“Time, that fourth dimension, has always been an essential element in [Beverly] Pepper’s work—a desire to create something outside history, something bigger and more enduring than herself, than all of us.”
Megan O’Grady
Curvae in Curvae (2012 - 18)
Curvae in Curvae (2012)
Helena (2014 - 18)
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