The MAC presents: Rusty Scruby: Playing in the Sand / Charlotte Smith and Paul Abbott: Synthetic Landscape

by PegNews wire

The MAC is pleased to announce its two upcoming exhibitions "Playing in the Sand" featuring Rusty Scruby in the large and square galleries and "The Synthetic Landscape," a collaborative effort featuring Paul Abbott & Charlotte Smith in the New Works Space.The MAC will host an opening reception Friday, January 9 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. at 3120 McKinney Avenue in Uptown Dallas. Call 214-953-1212 for information or visit www.the-mac.org. The MAC is open Wednesday - Saturday 11 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. This exhibition will run through February 14, 2009.

On January 14, at 6:00pm The MAC will screen "Beyond the Plane," a documentary by Quin Mathews. Mathews has been a television newsman for over twenty years and focuses on telling important stories in the world of culture and business. He recently received Dallas Contemporary's Legend Award for his dedication to the visual arts. "Beyond the Plane" explores Rusty Scruby's thought process and art production. Scruby will be present at the screening and will answer questions after the session. In addition, Paul Abbott and Charlotte Smith will discuss their first collaborative exhibit on January 28 at 6:30pm at The MAC.

In the large and square galleries:

Rusty Scruby - "Playing in the Sand"

The MAC's large galleries will exhibit the dynamic works of Dallas artist Rusty Scruby in both the large and square galleries. This unique opportunity affords Scruby the ability to realize his creative visions without limits in Dallas's premiere non-profit venue. Divided into two installations, Rusty Scruby is presenting a new body of work reflecting on a day at the beach, as well as his thoughts on climate change.

In the large gallery, a three-dimensional installation will oblige the viewer to move around it and experience the piece from every angle. Off the wall, Scruby's three-dimensional photographic reconstructions of a boy playing in the sand are repeated floating throughout the space on separate globes, evoking memories of his childhood. Scruby sees the boy as himself digging in the sand, thinking about life and structures, and how the world works. Liliana Bloch, Director pro tem of The MAC, explains "These pieces are a reflection of who he is...Rusty is coming back to all the memories of living in Kwajalein, an island in the South Pacific, in his first years of life. The feeling of water touching his body, the noise, and the reflection of light on the water made an impression so big it is still with him."

In the square gallery, Scruby chooses to work with no imagery to address the beach theme at an abstract level. White paper and clear plastic constructions will investigate the patterns, textures, and structures which refer back to the nature of the beach landscape. For example, "Reef" shows Scruby's interpretation of the boundary between the ocean and the coral reef. White paper represents sand that is forming right at sea level through a process of accumulation and erosion. Clear plastic represents water that is constantly sculpting the edge of the land. Scruby will also investigate the density and state changes of water. Clear plastic will represent both water and ice depending on the openness of the weave, considering the chemical structure of H20, while white paper will represent snow.

About Rusty Scruby

Rusty Scruby's innovative three-dimensional constructions are a fusion of his artistic and scientific ingenuity. A former student of both aerospace engineering and music composition, Scruby manifests these skills into his work, producing an intricate harmony of math and music. His work has been featured in publications such as the Dallas Morning News, NY Arts Magazine, New American Paintings, Paper City, and Modern Luxury Dallas. In 2006, Quin Mathews produced, Beyond the Plane, a one-hour documentary about Rusty Scruby. Rusty Scruby's career is moving forward at a quick pace and some of his recent accolades include exhibitions at the Fullerton Museum in California, the Kohler Arts Center, as well as participation in art fairs including Art Miami, Scope Hamptons, LA Art Show, and the upcoming Scope Miami.

In the New Works Space:

Paul Abbott and Charlotte Smith - "The Synthetic Landscape"

Paul Abbott, a digital abstract photographer, and Charlotte Smith, an abstract painter, influence each other both as friends and artists. Their friendship and artistic collaboration started five years ago when Abbott began taking photographs of Smith's paintings. Mutually inspired, they started to communicate ideas and thoughts that culminated in their decision to approach their work through a symbiotic creative process. The New Works Space provides the intimacy that reflects the personal and creative bond between them.

In this exhibition the work of Abbott & Smith will be installed beginning on opposite sides of the gallery, coming together on the far wall. Both artists will show works of their own personality, works of mutual inspiration, and finally collaborated works. The landscape becomes evident in Charlotte Smith's paintings, as stacked paint drops become a tree lined horizon, a group of stratified geological features, or a cityscape. In applying multiple layers of paint, Smith's work can be a metaphor for the geological process - one where acrylic medium replaces sedimentary rock. In Paul Abbott's work, photographs of assemblages of formed paper become a rocky canyon, and double exposures of folded newspaper form a grid of text that becomes topographic. Many of Smith's compositions appear to be a view from above, as do Abbott's topographic photos of various kinds of paper formed into geological features. The influence of Abbott's landscape imagery, can be seen in Smith's more abstract views of horizons, stream and wave patterns, and geological layers. Smith's bright vision of a perfect abstract landscape and Abbott's view of a landscape altered by human activity converge to the disturbing possibility that the future may provide us with a mostly virtual landscape.

About Paul Abbott

Photographs of assemblages of folded, torn, and formed paper become geological features, and double exposures of shaped newspaper form a grid of text that becomes topographic. These are combined with images of roads and natural landscapes, creating a view that may at first appear real, but also unfamiliar. The road is leading to an unknown destination. An assemblage of construction photos becomes a "Path of Destruction", and a threatening sky predicts difficult times ahead. Signs, wires, fences, roads, and other evidence of a changing world suggest the disturbing possibility that the future may provide a mostly synthetic or virtual landscape.

A geologist by profession, Paul Abbott's love of art began with his studies at the Glassell School of Art in Houston for almost 15 years. Upon retirement, Abbott has turned his energies completely to photography and has exhibited throughout Texas in numerous juried shows including New Texas Talent at Craighead Green Gallery, Art in the Metroplex, and EXPO at 500X Gallery. In 2004, he also exhibited at Photo New York with Pan American Art Projects.

About Charlotte Smith

Scattered paint droplets stack up and fashion intriguing little piles and hybrid forms in the work of Charlotte Smith. When these three-dimensional circles, colors, and shadows meet one another, an innate visual energy is generated. Smith paints large canvases of low-relief droplets bubbling up in hour glass configurations. Simultaneously, a sculptural approach materializes when Smith arranges her three-dimensional droplets on the borders of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional surfaces.

Receiving her MFA in painting and drawing from the University of North Texas in 1999, Smith has rapidly established herself as a premier Texan Contemporary artist. Charlotte Smith has been selected twice for the Texas Biennial and collected by Neiman Marcus for four stores. Smith had her first solo museum show in 2005 at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, adding one of her works to their permanent collection. Smith has also exhibited with the Arlington Museum of Art, Pan American Art Projects in Dallas, George Billis Gallery in Los Angeles, the Huntington Beach Art Center, and Anya Tish Gallery in Houston.

Source: The MAC