Tom Bartel ( Courtesy)Acclaimed Ohio-based artist Tom Bartel will show work at a new exhibit in Fayetteville this week.
Bartel, known for his “disturbing and humorous fragmented figures” has a new show called Monster now on view at Community Creative Center, located at 505 W. Spring Street in Fayetteville.
The show will run through Sept. 7.
Bartel is based in Ohio where he serves as Professor and Ceramics Chairperson at Ohio University in Athens. His work is included in numerous collections, both public and private, and he has also received artist fellowships from the Pennsylvania arts council, the Kentucky Arts Council and the Ohio Arts Council, according to his website.
From his artist statement:
My work takes cues from a “shotgun blast” of influences ranging from antiquity to popular culture and is constructed to refer to both the body and also charged, stylized, surrogates for the body such as dolls, toys, and figurines. The questions that arise from this cultural mishmash fuel my creative practice.
I am interested in both the fragmentation and simplification of human form, especially how this decision encourages, if not requires, the viewer to participate with the work. Within this context, I view that which is absent as significant as that which is present.
Furthermore, I use the human condition as a point of departure where themes related to gender, rites of passage, fertility and mortality are constant “threads” within my creative practice.
An opening reception is planned for 5-8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 3 to coincide with other art openings in town as part of First Thursday festivities. In addition, a closing open house is in the works for 5-8 p.m. on another First Thursday, Sept. 7.
The exhibit is currently on display at Community Creative Center, and available to view Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.
