1 week Ago By ORANGEBURG COUNTY FINE ARTS CENTER
"Falling Into Self, Cultivating What's Within," the first showing of works by Orangeburg artist, Xavier Harris, will be on show at the Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center's Lusty Gallery, opening on Friday, Oct. 25, beginning with an Artist's Reception from 6 to 8 p.m.
, with the show continuing until Jan. 24, 2025. Passion and compassion are the two words that immediately come to mind when studying the collection Harris is building for his first solo exhibition.
Like many methodical pieces, Harris' implies an easily exacted work instead of the hours of experimentation and fusing efforts to match the mood of his senses, visually and emotionally. His aim is to capture a previous impression, the visual interaction encountering a person, image, object, perhaps a scene. To incorporate the mixed media that would complete the work, Harris wanted to replicate, for effect, the inventiveness of the woman, who years earlier first inspired him when he was surrounded by her work: Dorothy Brunson Wright, a graduate of Claflin College, now Claflin University.
"Her work snatched me into it. It was mixed media." Brunson was unique, and with ingenious cleverness created fascinating three-dimensional pieces for her murals "She blew my mind.
She lit the flame. I saw her work and it just engulfed me." Words of encouragement, from another Claflin graduate, Orangeburg artist Floyd Gordon.
He set Harris on the path to his first exhibition. "He sensed there was something in me, that I was an artist. He told me to focus and listen to music.
" Wright gave him his medium and Gordon gave him his direction. "Strange Fruit," mixed media on canvas, conjures Billie Holiday hauntingly delivering, in metaphoric verse and melody, the prolific occurrence of lynchings. This is a piece Harris felt impelled to create.
"When I went to the Billie Holiday Theatre in Brooklyn, there was no painting of Billie Holiday." Harris was determined to paint Holiday despite being anxious about undertaking a portrait. "As it was coming to life, I was in awe.
I shed a couple of tears just looking at it. I captured the energy of her singing "Strange Fruit." I want people to capture that emotion, capture the vocal cords and the muscles in her throat.
" For Holiday's dress, Harris used glue, dry brushed it and added glitter creating a shimmery effect. The red of her lips and earrings, which Harris fashioned himself with rhinestones, match perfectly. For her hair, Harris mixed clear glue with black gloss paint and brushed it with strokes to create the illusion of hair.
"I love mixed media," Harris emphasizes. "That's my thing. I use everything around me no matter what it is to incorporate it into my picture.
I'll meditate to determine what should and shouldn't go into my picture." For the mixed media piece, "Ketonet Passim," Harris has employed so many exciting colors, exploring the juxtaposition of an array of pigments, that would seem to be his "thing" as well. The piece is Harris' interpretation of a photograph of a friend and all-around artist, Michael Knowles, who devises his own outfit and creates his accompanying props.
"Dream," the painting in acrylic of a young ballerina, incorporates tulle, fabric for shoes and leotard, faux fur for the seat, wood and popsicle sticks for the molding, and fabric from a couch for the wall décor. Here the vivid blends are set in the background, stage for a much larger three-dimensional involvement. The vividness of the dancer's hair bows, shoulder straps, and the ribbons securing her shoes, bring attention to the muted energy of her mouth and the grace shaping her face.
She is his dancer, deliberately adorned with Harris' eclectic touches. Harris' other subjects and themes are as fascinating and varied as the mixed media he uses to evoke a sense of awe and or delight. "I want people to be amazed.
" For additional information call 803-536-4074 or contact Vivian Glover at [email protected] . Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
