My inaugural post for the dotmatrix project concerns an art show that I stumbled upon quite by chance. I had just been soaking up the sounds of Crystal Bright and the Silver Hands and Amelia’s Mechanics at Center City Park, enjoying the summertime atmosphere of people enjoying live music outdoors, of kids running happily about and of vendors selling their wares. It’s a great scene. And it happens every Friday night for free.
The friend who was with me said she needed to check out a video on display at the Center for Visual Artists made by a friend of hers. I decided to tag along.
As a disclaimer, I will say that I don’t go to very many art shows. I think I’ve become jaded over the years by subjecting myself to pretentious drek. But in this instance, my cynicism was replaced by the delight of discovery. All thanks to John Charles Gibbs.
I stepped through the doorway to the Center for Visual Artists and did what I do when I shop for clothes: I breeze through the racks, rapidly scanning the merchandise for textures and colors that appeal to me. It is an inexplicable method that works for me.
I strolled past the various works in the gallery’s forefront, which remain in my mind a blur of muted colors and indefinite forms. At this point, I felt a mounting impatience. But for whatever reason, I persevered and made my way deeper inside the gallery.
I crossed a sort of threshold defined by the positioning of the viewing space and glanced briefly to my left. A bizarre portrait caught my eye. I wanted to turn away from it but it had me. I studied the flat color, the stark and disproportionate outline, the posture of the subject, the facial expression. It was a little unsettling but magnetic all at once.
When I’d taken my fill of the portrait, I glanced to the right of it. And there was my reward! There were the vivid colors, the decisive execution of form, the imaginative rendering of texture and a hint of fun.
Hanging in a row was a series of paintings depicting flowers in vases. The colors were crayola basics. The forms seemed inspired partially by Asian art and partially by Scottish painter, fabric and furnishings designer and architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. And there was a sculptural quality to them created by what appeared to have been the hard end of the paintbrush etching outlines in thick acrylic paint.
It did not surprise me when I went deeper into the bowels of the gallery and discovered sculptures by this artist as well as more paintings: some graceful lilies in a vase, two whimsical chairs, a large tree made of plywood. Sitting off by themselves were a couple of landscapes and a portrait of a house. These generated a distinct sense of movement and a vibrant energy that, in my opinion, is rare in visual art. When I see it, my whole being responds with a celebratory, “Yay!”
I encourage you to view John Charles Gibbs’ paintings live and in person at the Center for Visual Artists on the second floor of the Cultural Arts Center at 200 N. Davie Street in Greensboro through June eleventh. Gallery hours are Tuesday 10-5, Wednesday 10-7, Thursday/Friday, Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 2-5. The exhibit is free. Call 336.333.7485 if I’ve missed anything that you need to know.
