Now Showing: Rural Elements

AUGUST 10 - NOVEMBER 9, 2019OPENING RECEPTION FOR THE ARTISTS - SATURDAY AUGUST 10 FROM 7-10 PM RURAL ELEMENTS is curated by the Wichita Falls art legend B.C. Gilbert and features sevenInternationally recognized artists who embrace their own rural origins in their artwork. "It's just acoincidence", explains Gilbert, "that they all come from Texas".Andy Don Emmons Jr. is a fifth-generation farmer and rancher located outside of Austin. His work is inspired by the tall tales of his family, friends and foes. He is known for his art cars including the famous rhinestone encrusted Cadillac(featured twice at The Bob Bullock Texas History Museum) “…Emmons approaches small-town culture with razor-sharp perversity… “writes Christina Rees in an article for The Met & The Dallas Observer. He will be in Plainview for the opening.Esther Pearl Watson makes art about life with a father who was obsessed with making a working flying saucer in their front yard.” …her work takes stories of heartbreak and challenge and transforms them into tales of joy and possibility.” writes Dr. Andrew Walker, Director of Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Watson’s work has been collected by the creator of the Simpsons, she has been featured with Adult Swim and been commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum to do a mural. She currently lives in Los Angeles and will be traveling to Plainview for the opening.Buster Graybill uses sculpture, installation, video and photography to bring the rural experience in totally unexpected ways into the confines of art spaces. He has exhibited throughout Texas, in Boston, Miami, New York, and Guanajuato, Mexico and is a Professor at University of Texas at San Antonio. He will be installing a work commissioned by Artpace in San Antonio which includes sculpture as interactive farm equipment, photos and video. “If you like videos of baby goats jumping around, you’re gonna love this installation.” says Kelly Alison, Executive Director of CAMP.George Zupp is a San Marcos, Marathon, Texas local. He is famous in San Antonio and he is considered a folk hero in Germany. His work is primitive, daring, original and funny. Zupp creates an ongoing YouTube Channel called Chicken George. "Even Zupp’s paintings of barnyard animals carry a menacing fervor as though they were created in a whirlwind", writes Hannah Dean in the catalog essay. Zupp will be in Plainview for three days helping install the exhibition and he will be personally catering the opening in Plainview.John Robert (Jack) Craft lives with his family on a commercial cattle ranch in the Texas Panhandle. The work is hard, heavy, and sometimes uncomfortably honest, which is a reflection of the artist and his life as a rancher. The sculpture is abstract work that is grounded in geology and the metallurgy of the artist's material of choice: ferrous metals, and the art reflects the solid values of ranch life.Maisie Marie Alford is a Curator at Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts(LHUCA) in Lubbock, Texas. Her paintings and installations are full of everyday stuff, memories. loving tributes and mysterious spells. Alford is collected and exhibited internationally and has done residencies including The Kienholz Schoolhouse Residency in Hope, Idaho and the Creative Passage New Mexico Residency in Vadito, New Mexico. Alford will be in Plainview for the opening.Richie Bates aka The Texas Troubadour “…cadence and guitar riffs are fitting for a troubadour wandering into the scene—preferably a dusty, empty street on the precipice of spaghetti western melodrama” writes Hannah Dean in the catalog essay. Bates will be at the opening crooning out lyrics like “what you want, won’t always be what you need” or “I’m thankful for my good leg.”