SAAC welcomes new exhibit by Tom Richard

The South Arkansas Arts Center welcomes a new exhibition by artist and professor of art at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Tom Richard, entitled "Bubble Gum on Janson's History of Art Series". The show will hang May 3-30 in the Merkle and Price Galleries with an artist reception on May 6, from 5:30-7:00pm.

Richard said about his exhibit, "In 2021, I began the Bubble Gum on Art Series that depicts illusionistic bubble gum painted over images removed from different art history textbooks. The painted bubble gum masks a prominent part of the composition (which could be the primary focal point, but in some cases, is the secondary or tertiary one) to hint at a transformation - from black & white to color, appropriation to original, high to low, masking to potential, and serious to whimsy.

"I am delighted to present the first showing of the Bubble Gum on Janson's History of Art Series in its entirety at SAAC (an installation of over 250 individual pieces). I made the series by painting illusionistic bubble gum over parts of specific images from the torn apart 1966 edition of the pivotal textbook (an act that pays homage to sticking gum under my desk while in grade school). I find the mood created by the dark walls and ethereal lighting accentuates my investigations of infusing the frivolous amongst the sacred."

Richard's work has been included in over 100 national juried and invitational exhibitions including Heroes at Central Michigan University, After School Special at the University Art Museum in Albany, NY, Metamorphosis at the Regional Art Museum in Fort Smith, AR, and Artfields in Lake City, SC. He has had over 50 solo exhibitions at venues including the Arkansas Arts Center (now the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art), the Historic Arkansas Museum, Baton Rouge Galley and Center for Contemporary Art, and numerous university museums, galleries, and art centers throughout the United States. Tom Richard holds an MFA from the University at Albany and a BFA from LSU.

For more information about this exhibit, please call the SAAC office at 870-862-5421 or visit the website at www.saac-arts.org. SAAC is located at 110 East Fifth Street, El Dorado, Arkansas.

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