Curated by Cynthia Hatfield the evening with also feature Introductions by Oguz Erdur and Keith Frederick and include live American Folk music by TRIO OF FRIENDS all at the new location at 850 Blue Ridge Rd.
Phil Kurz was born in Washington, D.C. in 1951 and lived, worked and exhibited within a few miles of there in Kensington, Maryland. His extended family had already spawned generations of painters, dancers, artisans and writers who saw the beauty in the world and tried to share that with others. Phil’s work shows the influences of the Russian Expressionists and Asian artists he most admired, yet it is uniquely his own. In addition to his myriad drawings and paintings, he was an incredibly prolific writer. He developed an extensive comic-strip/graphic-novel, produced journals, a revolutionary manifesto, scrapbooks, abstract visual narratives, all enclosed in his custom wood-crafted boxes.
Phil's art ranges in style from graphic figures & illustrations to geometric & organic abstractions. Highly-intelligent, serious, honest & sensitive, the schizophrenia that plagued him also informed him. "In short," states Oguz Erdur, professor of Anthropology at UNCA, " Phil's art attracts me, draws me in and promises a tragic encounter—tragic in the sense that life itself is tragic: we all know what happens at the end. But that tragedy becomes a beautiful one when we encounter those whose company gives us joy and solace by allowing us to recognize a piece of ourselves in their lives, past and present. And that to me is the definition of anthropology anyway: a detour to the self that goes through the other… "
A percentage of sales of select works will go to the Unicef Safety in School Fund and the Asheville Southside Kitchen in memory of Phil Kurz. An 84 page full color exhibition catalog will also be available for sale.
Exhibit runs April 14 - June 3, 2018
Flood Gallery Fine Art Center--new exhibition space in Black Mountain
850 Blue Ridge Rd, Unit A-13 • Black Mountain, NC 28711 • Next to Veterans Park floodgallery.org • 828-273-3332 • Look for us on Facebook for updates!
carlos@floodgallery.org
The Flood Gallery Fine Art Center educates, challenges and inspires the community through music, film, literary, and contemporary art. These events are open and free to the public.
24th Annual Twin Rivers Film Festival
June 16th and 17th at the Flood Fine Arts Center
World Premiers of Short Drama, Feature Film
Animations, Experimental and Documentaries.