A Face in the Crowd
By James Caldwell
September 30th - October 24th
Join us for James Caldwell’s new show, A Face in the Crowd, at the September Final Friday at the Phoenix Gallery! Local artist James Caldwell will be unveiling his new unique exhibition. You can get a chance to meet James and gain insight into his exhibition on opening night September 30th from 6pm to 9 pm. Don’t forget to come out and listen to live entertainment by musical duo The Twangles.
_____________________
Artist Biography
James Caldwell was born and raised in Beloit KS. In 1992 he graduated from Emporia State with BS in art education and in 2002 He received his MFA from Wichita State University. James worked as the Halstead High School Art Teacher in Halstead KS for 24 years.
James has shown his work extensively in the Wichita area but has recently moved to Northeast Kansas. James lives in Ozawkie KS with his wife Sherri and his two daughters Isabelle and Emma, both KU students. He is currently the High School Art Teacher for the Oskaloosa School District.
_____________________
Artist Statement
"I would like my work to spur conversations about meaning and composition. When I teach my students, I find they have a hard time seeing the perspective as well as the symbolic meaning behind images used in art from history. They fundamentally do not see the world in the same way I do. It fascinates me. I try to contrast varying perspectives both physically and conceptually in my work to break down these barriers of expression. I like to put multiple kinds of perspective systems in my still life’s to highlight the artificiality of the picture plane and also work in series to draw associations between images.
Currently I am working on a Series of paintings of different types of crowds - Adoring crowds, working crowds, concert crowds, business meeting crowds, etc. The purpose of the gatherings is very different as are their facial expressions and general demeanor. I like the contrast of being in a large crowd and painting a picture of one. One experience is loud, social, and conforming while the other is lonely, quiet and individual. I paint each crowd with a pallet knife, which is painstakingly slow even though the images seem to be just momentary instances in time."
________________________
Another treat will be live music by The Twangles. The Twangles describe themselves as a dirty blues band that plays the kind of music you'd hear at a party in a spooky swamp! Multi-instrumentalist duo, the Twangles play a killer blend of way-out classics and your favorite pop songs reimagined in their own bluesy gypsy jazz style.
_______________________
This exhibit will be in the Phoenix Underground Gallery, and the artist will be stopping by on opening night to discuss and promote his artwork. Be sure to like and follow our Facebook before the show so you can be kept up to date on events involving the September Final Friday exhibition.
And by supporting a local artist you are saying that art is a valued part of our community.
_______________________
To view work online to purchase, please click here.