We are pleased to be hosting our region’s annual Art of the South, presented by NUMBER: Inc., a quarterly visual arts journal hailing from Memphis with coverage throughout AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MO, MS, NC, OK, TN, TX, SC, VA, or WV.

Join us Saturday, June 3rd, 6-9pm for a show that appears to be a cross-section of the contemporary rippling of art scenes across the southern region.

This show was curated by Mark Scala, Chief Curator at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. Scala received an MA in in art history and MFA in painting from Virginia Commonwealth University. Having spent the better part of his life painting, Mark is himself an artist. His interests and exhibitions have focused on representations of the body in contemporary art.

There are 28 artists displaying at Ground Floor Gallery + Studios and the L Ross Gallery in Memphis simultaneously.

Artists showing at GfG include:

Amelia Briggs, a painter who has recently been working on bulbous “inflatable” appearing surfaces. Amelia has definite interests in children’s imagery and expression.

Brent Dedas, works in mixed media and recalls the intensity of abstract expressionists. His work explores dichotomies such as science and art, or destruction and creation.

Donald Furst, a printmaker who depicts architectural scenes at night. Many of his compositions focus on interiors that include an opening door.

Jaime Johnson, a photographer currently teaching at Ole Miss. Using cyanotype photography, she explores female identity.

John Jackson, a figural painter drawing from the neo-expressionists. His paintings center around our current relationship with technology. The work represented in this show differs greatly from this and marks his way into abstraction.

Joseph Holsapple, an artist who makes still life paintings of domestic items. He fills his images with childhood objects and leaves bits of the image unfinished, evoking the nature of memory.

Katherine Wagner, a pattern-based painter who takes cues from the loud patterned fashion of the 80’s. Much of her work is based on personal childhood experiences with visual pattern.

Lauren Yandell, an artist who works in graphite, collage, and installation while finding a balance between nature and geometry. She marries realism with the raw quality of drawing.

Lester Merriweather, an artist and curator that works in collage. Lester focuses his attention on racial relationships, capitalism, consumerism, and the myriad of ways these things intersect.

Michael Nichols, creates unearthly portraits using buon fresco, air brush, and silverpoint. His curiosity in introducing old and ancient mediums to contemporary art is reflected in the ghostly images he creates.

Victoria Tinsley, works in both sculpture and painting, creates surreal figures that morph into and out of each other.

Virgil (Cayse) Cheatham, a graduate of Yale University who currently lives in Atlanta, GA. He divides his time between creating erie landscaped-based paintings and working at the Zuckerman Museum.

If you can’t make it to the opening night of Art of the South, stop by during our regular gallery hours to check it out! We will be open Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, 5-8pm.