The LUSO - American Surrealism Now of the 21st Century Exhibit in Mississippi!
Shahla Rosa and Joe MacGown, two incredible artists have invited me to share my art in the LUSO-American Surrealism Now exhibit January 11 in Mississippi. Along with Shahla and Joe, I'll be surrounded by a collection of outstanding surrealists from around the world. I'm very much looking forward to it.
The LUSO-America Surrealism of the 21st Century exhibition will feature the surreal works of six notable US artists and four Portuguese artists, as well as a few local Mississippi artists including some MSU art students. It will be held at the Cullis Wade Depot Gallery located above the welcome center at the Barnes and Noble building on the Mississippi State campus from January 11 to February 28, 2016. A reception is planned for 5 to 7 PM on Thursday, 21 January 2016. One of the primary goals and motivations of this group is to share and display our surreal artwork to a wide variety of viewers at appreciative venues throughout the world. With a diverse range of high quality artwork, we look forward to engaging viewers in a dialogue about the nature and significance of surreal art. Although surrealism has been recognized as an art movement for almost a hundred years, it is still a vital and important component of the art world. Through the intermixing of reality and dreamlike ideas, possibilities are limitless. By allowing the subconscious mind to direct the artist, the very act of creating surreal art can be liberating and cathartic. Resulting themes range from whimsical to making important statements about society. As a group, we have held three successful exhibitions thus far: two in the United States and one in Europe. The first of these exhibitions opened in the Palace of Lousa, an 18th century building located in Coimbra, Portugal; and, in fact, some pieces from that show are now part of a permanent display there. The second exhibition was held in 2014 at the LuminArte Gallery in downtown Dallas, Texas, voted as the “People’s choice” best gallery in Dallas. The most recent show was held in December of 2014 at the Latino Art Museum in Pomana, Los Angeles, California. The primary members of the group exhibiting at MSU will include six American artists Jay Garfinkle, France Garrido, Joe A. MacGown, K.D. Matheson, Patrick McGrath Muniz, Shahla Rosa, and Olga Spiegel) and four Portuguese artists ( Victor Lages, Santiago Ribeiro, Paula Rosa, and Francisco Urbano), all of who regularly exhibit their artwork internationally. Additionally, we will have several local Mississippi artists who will be exhibiting including Laurie Burton, Brad Luke, Joseph MacGown, Randi Watson, and Gerard Woods.
