Filed under: In the Studio, Q&A, Alabama | Tags: Ellen C. Caldwell, Ellen Caldwell, 94, Bonard Hughins, Ellen, Hughins, Beta Pictoris, Boutwell Studios, Alabama, Birmingham, CMYK, NAP #94, NAP
In a time when technology is changing and morphing around us so quickly that we are all in a steady state of flux and perpetual catch-up, Bonard Hughins‘ paintings (NAP #94) offer us a respite.
In his portraits, Hughins mimics the CMYK color process that was used to increase printing speed and efficacy, but in painting it by hand (his process averages a couple of weeks per painting), he also reverses this technological development as if to slow down the rapid pace at which our iPads, iPods, and phones seem to lull us with their siren song…If technology is constantly propelling us to the Land of Two Steps Forward, then Hughins is consciously looking and taking one step back. - Ellen Caldwell, LA Contributor
Hughins in his studio
Filed under: Competitions, NAP News, Sneak Peeks | Tags: 94, Alex Kvares, Ananda Balingit-LeFils, Andrew Blanchard, Andrew Smaldone, Beth Edwards, Beverly McIver, Bonard Hughins, Brian Haverlock, Chloe S. Watson, Chris Jahncke, Craig Drennen, Dan Cameron, Hamlett Dobbins, Ian Larson, Jason Galbut, Jed Jackson, Jered Sprecher, Jerry Cutler, Kathleen Loe, Katie Miller, Kim Manfredi, Kyle White, Lillian Bayley Hoover, Lydia Ruby, Maggie Evans, Maggie Michael, Marcus Kenney, Mark Bradley-Shoup, Marucs Jansen, Michel Modell, Mickael Broth, Monica Zeringue, Nancy VanDevender, OHWOW, Prospect New Orleans, Rachel Bone, Ralph Bourque, Regina Scully, Ryan Browning, Ryan Foster, Susan Martin, Tad Lauritzen Wright, Tom Stephens, Troy Dugas, Whitney Wood Bailey
Cover: Marcus Jansen
For the 2011 edition of the Southern Competition, we’re thrilled to feature the curatorial expertise of Dan Cameron, the founder and director of Prospect New Orleans, a post-Katrina effort that is single-handedly changing the landscape of contemporary art in the Southern United States. As the man behind the largest international biennial of contemporary art in America, Cameron’s experience working with emerging artists dates back several years, and New American Paintings is proud to exhibit his perspective as this issue’s juror.
The Spotlight feature for #94 focuses on the work of Knoxville, Tennessee’s Jered Sprecher, whose optically charged abstractions have more in common with representational forms than they reveal at first glance. The winner of a 2009 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, Sprecher is an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a wily investigator of commonplace mark-making. Sprecher speaks with us about abstraction, Dollywood, and where you go looking for inspiration in the cornfields of Nebraska.
No conversation about contemporary work in the South would be complete without talking about Miami, and OHWOW’s Lydia Ruby speaks to us about the risk-taking sensibilities of the South Florida art capital, her move from Boston, and her experiences in the art world working with emerging artists.
With American institutions like The Whitney increasingly acquiring work from artists in the South, it’s clear that the region is more vital than ever before, and New American Paintings is excited to be a stalwart site for this growing conversation. Order your copy online! A full list of winners, and preview images, after the jump!
—Evan J. Garza, Editor-at-Large
