Longtime creative collaborators and studio mates Douglas Shaw Elder and Richard McKown will split MAINSITE Contemporary Art with two solo exhibitions that will open to the public on Wednesday, August 19 with a virtual opening included in the Friday, August 14 2nd Friday Norman Art Walk livestream broadcast through Facebook.
The exhibition will run through Saturday, September 12. Public exhibition receptions have been suspended until Norman Arts Council has deemed it safe to resume them, but the gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday at this time. Masks are required for all visitors. Exhibitions are free and open to the public.
Elder’s OKecoSCAPES is the most recent in his SCAPES series of sculptures and drawings. SCAPES takes an abstract perspective, observing the cycles of nature that inevitably direct and influence all life forms. The series contemplates specific transformative forces in nature, principally creation and growth and their counterparts, destruction, and erosion. Organic and dark in character, SCAPES conveys the sense of the raw, unalterable power of nature – its splendor, its force, and its sheer magnitude.
SCAPES began as large relief sculptures carved from layered polychrome plywood and have evolved to include two series of drawings, one made using frottage printmaking techniques, and the other, most recent series, made using water-based inks on petroleum-based paper.
The past few years, the focus of the series shifted to an exploration of Oklahoma’s unique ecosystems with OKecoSCAPES, specifically depicting the diverse visual landscapes Oklahoma has to offer. All of the works in the series are influenced by forces of nature, contemplated through experiential art-making, and result in raw, organic finished carvings and drawings.
Douglas Shaw Elder is a working artist whose drawings and sculpture have been exhibited nationally and internationally. He has been the Executive Director of the Firehouse Art Center in Norman, Oklahoma since 2007. Elder, a U.S. Army veteran, received his MFA from Boston University. He is an arts educator and visual arts advocate and ambassador serving the Norman community and state of Oklahoma.
Fauxballes is a multi-disciplinary project from the creative mind of Richard McKown and his daughter, Olivia. At the base of the project is a full-length screen play written by McKown. From the screenplay, McKown has selected characters and specific moments of action that are recreated in drawings and displayed in “arenas” in the gallery, guiding the viewer through the story – allowing the viewer to be embedded in a storyboard for a film. The full screen play is also displayed as part of the installation.
Many local Normanites make appearances as the physical inspiration for many of the characters in the installation. With close attention one may also note the art historical references and inspirations within the images.