Metropolitan Museum of Art Announces Fifth Avenue Renovation Plans

Charleston, SC – The Gibbes Museum of Art will present two new exhibitions from September 3 through December 5, 2010. Face Lift, organized by the Gibbes and on view in the Main Gallery, offers a fresh look at trends in American portraiture from the 18th century to today. The innovative works of emerging artist Stacy Lynn Waddell will be featured in the Rotunda Gallery in Stacy Lynn Waddell: The Evidence of Things Unseen, an exhibition co-organized by the Gibbes Museum of Art and the Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

FACE LIFT

The power of portraiture is revealed in this exhibition sequel that presents thought-provoking juxtapositions of outstanding portraits from the Gibbes’ nationally recognized contemporary and historic collection of colonial, federal, and antebellum American portraits, enhanced by objects from private collections. Featuring both whimsical and more traditional portrait pairings, this exhibition will challenge viewers to contemplate the power of portraiture through comparisons of iconography, pose, attire, props, medium, subject, and style. Oils, works on paper, photographs, and sculpture from divergent artists including Edwin Harleston, Benjamin Long, Thomas Sully, Leo Twiggs, William Aiken Walker, and Mary Whyte will be showcased.

Face Lift highlights both the changes and constants in portraiture over the last three hundred years. From Egyptian art to American Pop, portraiture is considered by most art historians as the oldest and most popular form of artistic expression. The desire to capture one’s likeness or the likeness of others in order to project certain identities, values, lifestyles, and interests remains a compelling art form. As technology continues to make the capture and distribution of one’s own image readily available to us, we as a society continue to explore our own identities through the power of portraits.

“The original Face Lift exhibition in 2004 was such a success that we were inspired to revisit the concept of portrait juxtapositions to showcase our impressive collection. By physically pairing these remarkable portraits together, we are enticing visitors to ask questions, to compare the artists’ works, and to contemplate how they view themselves and others,” notes Sara Arnold, Gibbes Curator of Collections.

Face Lift is sponsored by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, Gibbes, etc., and the Little Black Book for Every Busy Woman.

STACY LYNN WADDELL: THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS UNSEEN

The Evidence of Things Unseen features recent works by emerging artist Stacy Lynn Waddell in her first solo museum exhibition. Waddell’s innovative technique involves burning, singeing, and branding paper and fabric to create works that explore differing perceptions of American history and culture. This exhibition includes recent paintings, works on paper, installations, and projections.

Stacy Lynn Waddell was born in Washington, DC and received her MFA from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007. Her work has been recognized and exhibited nationally including exhibitions at The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston Salem, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Project Row Houses in Houston, and The Studio Museum in Harlem. Waddell was named a finalist for The Factor Prize for Southern Art in 2008. She currently resides in Chapel Hill, NC where she is a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Evidence of Things Unseen will travel in January 2011 to the Weatherspoon Art Museum at The University of North Carolina in Greensboro.

“Stacy Lynn Waddell’s work is exciting because it draws upon the past, but is undoubtedly contemporary in both subject and technique. Her work is visually compelling and also a bit haunting – a combination that makes for a very interesting exhibition,” states Pam Wall, Gibbes Curator of Exhibitions.

Stacy Lynn Waddell: The Evidence of Things Unseen is sponsored by the Jane Smith Turner Foundation, AT&T Real Yellow Pages, and Charleston City Paper.

Related Programming
Women in the Arts Lecture Series
In November, the Gibbes will celebrate the many contributions of women in art in a three-part lecture series presented in partnership with the Center for Women on November 3, 10 & 17.
The November 10 lecture will be led by Stacy Lynn Waddell. A reception follows the lecture.
6pm, Gibbes Rotunda
Individual Lectures: $10 for members, $20 for non-members
Series of 3 Lectures: $25 for members, $55 for non-members
www.gibbesmuseum.org/events

Gibbes Museum of Art 135 Meeting Street * Charleston, SC * 29401

www.gibbesmuseum.org

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