VISUAL ART & MUSEUMS

The Rymer Gallery is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition Ribbon Paintings and Flower Figures, featuring new work by artist Vadis Turner. The show opens Saturday, September 3, 2011 during the First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown and will run through September 24, 2011.

The Rymer Gallery welcomes back Nashville native artist, Vadis Turner from her recent successes in New York.  In Ms. Turner’s current series, inspired by the creation of her marital Dowry, she explores her interest in the aesthetic bridges between diverse rites of passage. Elaborate ceremonies honor, idealize, and purify the subject as they transition from one life chapter to the next.The subject simultaneously embodies a climax and demise. A new identity is conceived. An old identity dies.

Ribbon paintings and Flower Figures create elements of ceremonial adornment that are partnered with processes of decay. Satin ribbons and flowers are fixed in a stilled state of destruction and removal inspired by fire or mold. Through consumption and repurposing, each process re-imagines the beauty and energy of change and loss. Vadis has exhibited her artwork both nationally, and internationally, including The Brooklyn Museum, The Andy Warhol Museum, and the Centre Georges Pompidou.  Vadis Turner will also produce a collaborative installation titled, “Flower Field”, involving students from her alma mater, Harpeth Hall, September 6 – 8.

In addition, The Rymer Gallery will be showing a preview of Gabriel Mark Lipper's new series titled Thoroughbred. Gabriel will exhibit the full body of work at The Rymer Gallery April 2012.  Every human being has a story; Thoroughbred is an exploration of the social ideals that influence our perception of these stories. Gabriel Mark invites the viewer to enter and question these ambiguous narratives. Beyond his love of horses, Gabriel is intrigued by the metaphors created by the relationship between a horse and rider and shows this relationship in unexpected ways in this series. The gallery will host a public reception on September 3, 2011 for the First Saturday Downtown Art Crawl from 6:00-9:00pm.