Lifted Lab: Regional Showcase -September 2010
A cooperative exhibition between Lifted Lab and SR404 Contemporary Art Gallery. Opening reception Friday, Sept 3rd at 6:00 PM
Curator's Statement:
Lifted Lab is a creative collective that was organized to represent art as a higher/next level experience by uniting progressive minds and inspiring audiences. We invite you to step into our laboratory where we experiment with ideas, create our own visions, and offer something new to learn. The artists within our collective create with contemporary, progressive, and abstract styles and subjects which are relevant to our present world. The purpose of the collective is to not only bind these varied creators who share similar perspectives, motivations and lifestyles, but to also extend the overlapping ideas that exists between us as a conversation for the modern world. Lifted Lab is here to change the game. This isn't only art, it is an extension of the idea that we communicate with each other through the language of creation. We are mad scientists who never sleep. We are elevated by creativity. We are Lifted Lab.
In this regional showcase, we feature three Lifted Lab members who live in the Southeast. Lifted Lab artist Zach Widgren currently lives in Knoxville, TN and is a recent graduate from UTK. His art reflects a unique, modern abstract style of painting, mixed media, and illustration that combines a psychedelic touch through a full spectrum meld of color, shapes, characters, words, and patterns. His inspiration is drawn from the ironic disconnects in society as a result of the Information Age and observing "a generation that was born into the aftermath of hyper-capitalism, bred to feel numb from lack of witnessed reality."
Fellow Knoxvillian and Lifted Lab artist, Grifter, began incorporating art into his daily life and into his hometown during the early 1990's after picking up graffiti as a natural habit. He has become recognized in many regions across the US, and even outside of the US, for his street art and collaboration with graffiti crew, BW. Recently, he has taken his talents indoors to create paintings and elaborate illustrations with acrylic, watercolor, ink, and spray paint. Life-long passions for music, film, art, and skateboarding remain his paramount influences in the street and the studio.
The third exhibiting member of Lifted Lab comes from Charlotte, NC and under the moniker Infamous JeanClaude, illustrates his thoughts on everyday life as a young urban artist. Bright colors, characters, and self-invented typography act as metaphors and symbols to spell out his personal observations of love, hate, the creative process, and human energies. Fine artists such as Dali and Basquiat are noted as large influences in his paintings and also in his recent cross-over into graphic design, while musically he is influenced by various genres from conscious underground and old-school hip-hop to jazz, funk, and soul. Infamous JeanClaude somehow takes a taste of from all eras of human creativity and translates that to a modern day commentary that speaks to audiences as broad as his own inspiration.
We are the future! Thank you for your time, we hope you enjoy the work of the Southeast's Lifted Lab artists! -Katie Pilgrim
Curator's Statement:
Lifted Lab is a creative collective that was organized to represent art as a higher/next level experience by uniting progressive minds and inspiring audiences. We invite you to step into our laboratory where we experiment with ideas, create our own visions, and offer something new to learn. The artists within our collective create with contemporary, progressive, and abstract styles and subjects which are relevant to our present world. The purpose of the collective is to not only bind these varied creators who share similar perspectives, motivations and lifestyles, but to also extend the overlapping ideas that exists between us as a conversation for the modern world. Lifted Lab is here to change the game. This isn't only art, it is an extension of the idea that we communicate with each other through the language of creation. We are mad scientists who never sleep. We are elevated by creativity. We are Lifted Lab.
In this regional showcase, we feature three Lifted Lab members who live in the Southeast. Lifted Lab artist Zach Widgren currently lives in Knoxville, TN and is a recent graduate from UTK. His art reflects a unique, modern abstract style of painting, mixed media, and illustration that combines a psychedelic touch through a full spectrum meld of color, shapes, characters, words, and patterns. His inspiration is drawn from the ironic disconnects in society as a result of the Information Age and observing "a generation that was born into the aftermath of hyper-capitalism, bred to feel numb from lack of witnessed reality."
Fellow Knoxvillian and Lifted Lab artist, Grifter, began incorporating art into his daily life and into his hometown during the early 1990's after picking up graffiti as a natural habit. He has become recognized in many regions across the US, and even outside of the US, for his street art and collaboration with graffiti crew, BW. Recently, he has taken his talents indoors to create paintings and elaborate illustrations with acrylic, watercolor, ink, and spray paint. Life-long passions for music, film, art, and skateboarding remain his paramount influences in the street and the studio.
The third exhibiting member of Lifted Lab comes from Charlotte, NC and under the moniker Infamous JeanClaude, illustrates his thoughts on everyday life as a young urban artist. Bright colors, characters, and self-invented typography act as metaphors and symbols to spell out his personal observations of love, hate, the creative process, and human energies. Fine artists such as Dali and Basquiat are noted as large influences in his paintings and also in his recent cross-over into graphic design, while musically he is influenced by various genres from conscious underground and old-school hip-hop to jazz, funk, and soul. Infamous JeanClaude somehow takes a taste of from all eras of human creativity and translates that to a modern day commentary that speaks to audiences as broad as his own inspiration.
We are the future! Thank you for your time, we hope you enjoy the work of the Southeast's Lifted Lab artists! -Katie Pilgrim
August 2010 "Creature Discomforts: Current works by Ralph Slatton and Colleen Wallace"
"Creature Discomforts” is an exposition of current work by Ralph Slatton and Colleen Wallace at the SR404 Contemporary Art Gallery for the month of August, 2010. The creatures in both artists work link these artists. Ralph Slatton, a professor of Printmaking in the Department of Art and Design at East Tennessee State University, creates traditional intaglio prints of rabbits or dogs that deal with a variety of issues. Colleen Wallace, a recent BFA graduate from ETSU creates sculptural ceramic rabbits that are dismembered or otherwise maimed.
Building on the linked subject matter, the prints and sculptural pieces enhance one another. This link enhances the interest in each body of work, but does not alter the content of either.
Building on the linked subject matter, the prints and sculptural pieces enhance one another. This link enhances the interest in each body of work, but does not alter the content of either.
"Let's go Drag Racing!" August 2010
STTC will be sponsoring the Streetfights at Bristol Dragway on Saturday August 28. Bring your friends and family down to enjoy a day full of racing, live bands, and a bikini contest! Gates open at 12pm and the event will last all day, and part of the night! Entry is 5.00 for spectators, or 10.00 if youd like to race your grocery getter! See you there!
"Coveted" July 2010
We covet our personal desires—
Sexuality and sex are issues that society often deems taboo and many artists deal with these issues in their work. Desire, Deviance, Lust, Love and Sex make up a large portion of the stories we find in popular culture throughout the centuries. Inspiration found through these stories can be found in every aspect of our lives.
The artwork chosen for this exposition are expressions of desires following the tradition of the German expressionists and Neo-expressionists coupled with the influence of contemporary media and ideas.
Where artists like Egon Schiele, Oscar Kokoschka, and George Baselitz created images that expressed their sexual desires utilizing non-idealized even grotesque figures, these artists deal with sensuality and sexuality through the lens of popular culture. Where Gustav Klimpt created images surrounded by ornate decoration that were considered pornographic in their day, some of the work in this show utilizes vulgar content to express ideas about personal experiences in an idealized manner.
The aesthetics of this work are informed through advertising images along with the objectification of people to create stories that are imbued with sensuality and/or sexuality in a manner that is both visually intriguing and thought provoking.
Your response to the work represented here will be based on the ideas the artists based the art on and your own personal experiences. Our goal is to provide the viewer with an opportunity to find the beauty in these sensual, sexual and vulgar works, and to take the ideas herein into their own lives. Our goal is not to offend, incite or anger those who will be easily offended.
Our goal is to make you think and open your eyes to another aesthetic.
To open your mind & your mind’s eye.
Sexuality and sex are issues that society often deems taboo and many artists deal with these issues in their work. Desire, Deviance, Lust, Love and Sex make up a large portion of the stories we find in popular culture throughout the centuries. Inspiration found through these stories can be found in every aspect of our lives.
The artwork chosen for this exposition are expressions of desires following the tradition of the German expressionists and Neo-expressionists coupled with the influence of contemporary media and ideas.
Where artists like Egon Schiele, Oscar Kokoschka, and George Baselitz created images that expressed their sexual desires utilizing non-idealized even grotesque figures, these artists deal with sensuality and sexuality through the lens of popular culture. Where Gustav Klimpt created images surrounded by ornate decoration that were considered pornographic in their day, some of the work in this show utilizes vulgar content to express ideas about personal experiences in an idealized manner.
The aesthetics of this work are informed through advertising images along with the objectification of people to create stories that are imbued with sensuality and/or sexuality in a manner that is both visually intriguing and thought provoking.
Your response to the work represented here will be based on the ideas the artists based the art on and your own personal experiences. Our goal is to provide the viewer with an opportunity to find the beauty in these sensual, sexual and vulgar works, and to take the ideas herein into their own lives. Our goal is not to offend, incite or anger those who will be easily offended.
Our goal is to make you think and open your eyes to another aesthetic.
To open your mind & your mind’s eye.
