Being There Summer 2010 June 4-August 28 In his famous book Being and Time, German Philosopher Martin Heidegger consistently refers to human beings as “Dasein.”The rough translation of this word is “being there,” and Heidegger used this terminology because he believed that to think of human beings simply as beings (an aggregate of matter and spirit) is to obscure one of the most important aspects of our existence:the fact that we exist in space and time. The four artists in the summer 2010 Exhibition program take a variety of approaches to the notion of the human moment, the experience of a place and a time.Working across media and subject matter, the artists are unified by the idea that single moments are definitive in human life, and that capturing these moments can be extremely rewarding for both artist and audience.
John SimmsNorvell Gallery John Simms’ powerful portraits of African American men, women and children give a potent sense not only of our historical moment but also of each individual’s particular circumstance.For example, Sgt. Futrell features a young man who has recently been killed in combat in Iraq.In this moving portrait he is posed near a photograph of himself with his mother from years before, bringing into focus three important moments in this man’s all-too-brief life. Ben MartinYoung People’s Gallery Ben Martin is an artist for whom the phrase “being there” really means “Being There!”Martin was Time Magazine’s first staff photographer and his career as a photojournalist is the stuff of legend.He has been present at moments that most of us have only heard about on the news, and his camera has been with him.His photographs have capturedmany of the stories with which we are so familiar:the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Kennedy funerals, presidential inaugurations.Martin’s eye and his knack for being in the right place at the right time have made him a master of the defining moment. Carmella JarviStanback Gallery Carmella Jarvi’s exquisite paintings and pastel drawings of women swimming have a private, intimate solitude that suggests deep reflection, and yet they are full of a languid motion.The dynamic, ever-changing nature of water and the strange and sometimes disquieting sensation of submersion are palpably present in viewing her pictures, and audiences will identify with that silent moment of suspension and reflection.
Rick SorensenOsborne and Woodson Galleries Rick Sorensen sees his sculptures as instants of awakening.He carves pieces of driftwood that he’s found near his home on High Rock Lake, thereby bringing new life to an object that has already had a long, mysterious history.There is an interesting parallel between the lives of these sculptures and the artist’s life.Sorensen is a retired medical investigator with a long career in medicine, and he discovered his passion for art after retirement.His sculptures celebrate this new moment of awakening for both himself and the wood that he is carving.