The Ann Tower
Gallery is pleased to present new paintings by one
of the region's most talented and productive artists,
Robert Tharsing, a Professor Emeritus in the Department
of Art at the University of Kentucky . The
show will be up through June 6th.
Tharsing has produced
a stunning new body of work during the past year,
shifting away from geometric abstraction, and revisiting
a more naturalistic and realistic approach. As always,
the paintings are multileveled, and full of hot, brash
color, beginning with beautiful washy layers. In the
first of these, painted last Spring, stylized plants,
trees, flowers, and birds are elaborately painted
on the top layer, creating a wonderful and mysterious
setting. In some, realistic birds of Kentucky are
depicted among fanciful flora in exotic and unknown
places.
In the most recent paintings, fittingly begun in November,
he uses leaves of Kentucky as a theme. Like the birds,
the leaves are based on real leaves from the neighborhood
- magnolia, maple, oak, ginkgo, ash and more. Tharsing
scatters leaves across the canvas, evoking the sight
of whole flat leaves trapped against a wire fence
on a windy fall day. Like the Spring paintings, landscapes
ranging from recognizable to obscure, form the backdrop.
In all, Tharsing uses shimmering color and thick paint
to create luscious textural surfaces that resonate
with life.
Tharsing received a Master's degree from the University
of California Berkeley , and has lived in Lexington
since 1971. His work has been exhibited nationally
and internationally, he has had numerous solo exhibitions,
and his work in is many public and private collections.
He has also been the recipient of the prestigious
Al Smith Fellowship, awarded by the Kentucky Arts
Council
The Main
Floor Gallery
will feature a variety of paintings, sculpture, photographs,
drawings, ceramics, and folk art by more than 30 artists.
Patrick
Adams • Minnie Adkins • Gary Bower •
Nancy Fletcher Cassell • Stacey R. Chinn •
Carolyn Courtney • Susan Dygert • Joseph
Fitzpatrick • Robert James Foose • Ulrike
Hahn • Nori Hall • Georgia Henkel •
Carolyn Hisel • Judith Pointer Jia • Ted
Kennedy • Ed Lawrence • Howerton Leightty
• Dal Macon • Guy Mendes • Lennon
Michalski • Lonnie and Twyla Money • Mary
Newton • Janice Harding Owens • Lina Tharsing
• Robert Tharsing • Mary Rezny •
Bill Santen • Suzy Scott • Chris Segre-Lewis
• James Shambhu • Valerie Shesko •
Karen Spears • Travis Strange • Lina Tharsing
• Robert Tharsing • Mary Tortorici •
Ann Tower • Travis Townsend • Sharon Weis
• Daniel Werner
The
gallery is located in the Downtown Arts Center, 141
East Main Street, Lexington, KY, 40507 and is open
Tuesdays though Saturdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with extended hours during special
events, theater performances and by appointment. For
more information and for hi-resolution images please
call the gallery: (859) 425-1188.
