Justus Fine Art Gallery hosts ‘The Order of Time’ exhibit
The October exhibit at Justus Fine Art Gallery, 827-A Central Ave., will feature work by Memphis painter Matthew Hasty.
The show will open with a reception from 5-9 p.m. Friday in conjunction with Gallery Walk, and the exhibit will be on display through Oct. 31.
Inspired by Carlo Rovelli’s book “The Order of Time,” this body of work captures the quanta, the elementary grains of time, a news release said. According to Rovelli, time “has a different rhythm in every different place … the things of this world interweaves dances made to different rhythms.”
“The passage of the sun, the whisper of a breeze, the flow of a river … these moments can be both fleeting and an eternity. Matthew uniquely and skillfully captures these moments in a way that takes the viewer back to a memory and brings them into the moment, as only he can,” the release said.
Born in Memphis in 1969, Hasty has lived most of his life in the South. His mother was an artist and the materials to make art were always around from early childhood, prompting Hasty to begin making art at a very young age. He earned a B.A. in Fine Arts at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla., in 1993, after which he moved to New York for a period of time.
“New York is a great place to ‘see’ art. I just always felt there were too many distractions, and it was not a place to find solace or peace for me. I knew that I could never be at home there,” Hasty said. For a time, he traveled the country in search of the meaning and inspiration for his art, making a living as a builder, painter, and musician. His artistic path took many twists and turns until he found peace back in his native town of Memphis. The subject matter of his work changed during this period, from angst-driven figurative painting, where the landscape played the role of a backdrop for his dark personal allegories, to his current work: serene, spiritually charged landscapes mostly devoid of human activity, the release said.
“Inspired by the luminous colors of nature, Hasty creates hauntingly beautiful landscapes of the South. He considers his paintings to be inspired mostly by landscape painters working in the 19th century. Prominent landscape and marine painters of the Hudson River school, the Luminists, the Barbizon school the Düsseldorf school and innumerable painters from Russia such as Arkhip Kuindji, Isaac Levitan, and Ivan Aivazovsky, are some of his strongest influences. Hasty’s paintings can be found in collections throughout the United States, as well as Russia, Germany, France, and South Korea,” it said.
Owned by artist Dolores Justus, Justus Fine Art Gallery holds opening receptions in conjunction with the monthly Hot Springs Gallery Walk, which is held from 5-9 p.m. the first Friday of every month in downtown Hot Springs. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and by appointment. Call 321-2335 or visit http:// www.justusfineart.com.