‘New Territory’ artist probes timely themes
In piece after piece, the eyes are painted or scribbled over. In others, the subject is turned away from the viewer or the eyes are closed.
The images are disconcerting but it’s impossible to look away.
In her current exhibit, “New Territory: Paintings by Michelle Fair,” on display at the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff through April 3, Fair’s work seems to reflect many Americans’ current struggles with loss, loneliness and disconnect.
While talking with a visitor in the William H. Kennedy Jr. Gallery, Matthew Howard said he was impressed with Fair’s use of space and the critical role it played in each of the 19 pieces that make up the exhibit.
Howard is the center’s visitor relations coordinator and has a degree in fine arts from the University of Central Arkansas at Conway.
Fair’s use of negative space is intentional.
“Lately, I’ve been thinking more about the spaces my fig
ures live in and how environment plays a role in my own life,” Fair said of her work.
“I’m spending more time letting the space direct the overall feeling of the painting. I’m excited to see how the figures and the spaces balance and feed each other, or if they don’t,” Fair said.
The pieces evoke a strong emotional response, such as “emptiness, loneliness and comfort …,” and the impact of expansive environments amplifies their mental and physical states, and creates a sense of vulnerability, Howard said.
“There is absolute seclusion tied to absolute openness,” Howard said.
REVISIONIST MEMORIES
“Fair is a very talented artist, and I was so glad to have her works exhibited,” Arts and Science Center curator Chaney Jewell said.
The work also deals with how perceptions change with time, and she “focuses on the fading of human memory.”
But, Jewell added, “As our memory fades, we make new decisions, take new paths than perhaps we would have, and how does that affect us as a person?”
Fair’s distortion of the physical body reflects the distortion in memory or personhood, along with the blurred, painted-over, or closed eyes of the subject, Jewell said.
EVOLUTION OF AN ARTIST
Fair is from Memphis but currently lives in Nashville, according to her website.
She said that over the years, “my work has loosely represented stages of my life,” such as learning, loving and stepping into adulthood. About her latest paintings, Fair said, “I think this reflects my new state of my life. It was never my intention to create a timeline … but here we are.”
Throughout her various phases of life, memory and loss are her most common themes.
“These two themes interest me because they are so universal,” Fair said.
But memory is tricky, often shape-shifting or disappearing completely.
“The way we play moments back to ourselves is interesting to me,” she said.
Loss has touched most people, and Fair describes it as “beautiful,” and through their own experience with death, “People relate to it,” she said.
The Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas is at 701 S. Main St. in Pine Bluff and is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
All visitors 2 and older are required to wear a mask.
The number of visitors is limited to 10 at a time, and people are welcome to reserve a time slot by calling Howard at (870) 536-3375 or emailing mhoward@asc701.org.