NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Paintings by acclaimed South American artist Dudley Charles will be on display at the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt University.
The Meeting the Ancestors exhibit runs from Jan. 13-Feb. 28 at the Black Cultural Center, which is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday. There is no admission and the public is invited. The paintings are on sale at prices ranging from $400 to $3,500.
“Dudley Charles, a Guyana newcomer to the scene, has a technique and color sense so delicate it defies description,” wrote critic Vivien Raynor in The New York Times in 1992. Charles’ work has been exhibited in Brazil, England, Japan, Nigeria, Venezuela and the United States.
Charles’ technique includes cutting up and rearranging the canvas and using wood, dust, paper pulp and acrylic gel to create a textured effect. He frequently draws on his Guyana heritage for inspiration.
“My work is an expression of events and images encountered in my life, reflecting the multicultural, multiracial society of the old and new world,” Charles said. “Moving between figuration and abstraction and drawing from a spectrum of cultural influences from my native land, Guyana, the Caribbean, South and North America. Armed with these images, myths and folkloric figures, I then evoke a magical landscape leading the viewer into the spirit world, a world wherein we meet the ancestors.”
Charles will attend a reception to kick off the exhibit at 3 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Black Cultural Center.
The Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt provides educational and cultural programming on the African American experience to Vanderbilt and the Nashville community. It also serves as a meeting place and support service for Vanderbilt students.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu