Fort Worth Community Arts Center exhibits Grayson Harper

Written by Lana Mcnutt Friday, 18 March 2011 00:28

 

Fort Worth, Texas - Grayson Harper’s images range from a sublime mysterious road at night to a painting of a dead soldier in a pine box he calls Home for Christmas. His figures eerily remind you of someone you know or recognize. The Patriots shows four people sitting in a wading pool in the front yard of a modest looking house, each waving a miniature American flag. Is that John Kerry in the pool? The Peaceable Kingdom also breeds familiarity in its characters. People who know the artist are sure he is depicted in The Bus Station.

Character is important to me, so I like to pay attention to the details of the faces.

Focusing on figurative drawing was a challenge for Harper during his years at the San Francisco Art Institute.  San Francisco in the late 60’s, recalls Harper, was about hippies, drugs, music and the Vietnam War. As a “kid from Texas”, Harper found it hard to get in step with the chaotic atmosphere he found around him. He felt that “freedom” was the call of the city; however that was not the case in his studio art classes.

The figure was anachronistic; abstract expressionism was the rage.
 
Always fascinated by the figure, Harper carved out time daily to spend in the school’s library pouring over the works of Ben Shahn, Jacob Lawrence and Jack Levine. His favorite spot in the library was directly across from a mural by Diego Rivera.
 
I paid close attention to Rembrandt who I think of as the father of modern figure painting.
 
Harper recalled a day in class when he was painstakingly working on a pastel drawing of a “nasty old guy sitting on a bed.” The professor told him to throw it in the trash...throw that away - the figure is dead.  Harper found the comment puzzling since there was always a parade of models, clowns and jugglers in and out of the studios, a scene he described as a non-stop burlesque show. Trips to the local gym to sketch boxers in the ring and outings to the morgue for less animated subjects stirred his fascination with the figure, with social realism and commentary.
 
The figures in my paintings evolve from what the painting tells me to do. I don’t plan everything in advance. I direct the subjects in my paintings: grouping people, building relationships, creating tension... putting people together whether they relate to each other or not.

Questions are welcome when you meet Grayson Harper February 8th. A CONVERSATION WITH GRAYSON HARPER sponsored by Heliotrope - Friday - February 8    6:30 PM.  DESTINATIONS - Works on Canvas continues through February 23, 2008.

The Fort Worth Community Arts Center’s mission is to provide accessible and affordable exhibition, performance, workshop, classroom, and office space to artists and arts organizations in the region, and to serve the general public by presenting the work of contemporary visual and performing artists in a user-friendly environment.  Visit : www.fwcac.com/

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