HIGH ART FRIEND

We are the High Art Friends of Contemporary Art.

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On April 21, Julie Mehretu spoke to the Friends of Contemporary Art group at the High Museum in front of her painting, Mogamma Part 2, a recent acquisition to the High's permanent collection.  Later in the evening, Michael Rooks and Julie Mehretu discussed her work and practice in front of a packed house.

Photos by Abel Klainbaum

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TONIGHT, April 21 at 7pm, Ethiopian-born New York artist Julie Mehretu will speak at the Alliance Theater (click here for ticket information). 

Maggie Davis for Burnaway recently spoke to the artist about the complex meanings of her densely rendered, architecturally inspired paintings, in particular a 15-foot-tall work acquired last year by the High Museum of Art, which is the event organizer. 

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Conversations With Contemporary Artists | Julie Mehretu, April 21, 7PM

Monday, April 21, 7PM: MacArthur Foundation Award-winning artist Julie Mehretu and Michael Rooks at the Alliance Theater

Join MacArthur Foundation Award-winning artist Julie Mehretu as she discusses her career and work, including the High Museum of Art’s recent acquisition Mogamma (A Painting in Four Parts): Part II (2012). In this painting, the architecture of the public square serves as a point of departure for Mehretu’s exploration of social and political change embodied by the Arab Spring through dynamic, multi-layered imagery. The High is honored to bring Mehretu to Atlanta for this special event. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from the artist and learn about her work.   

Support for this lecture provided by the WISH Foundation Fund of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, and Jane and Clay Jackson and The Willett Group.

Julie Mehretu, Mogamma (A Painting in Four Parts): Part II (2012)

Purchase with funds from Alfred Austell Thornton in memory of Leila Austell Thornton and Albert Edward Thornton, Sr., and Sarah Miller Venable and William Hoyt Venable, David C. Driskell African American Art Acquisition Fund, Dr. Lurton Massie Jr. Endowment for Contemporary Art, The Blonder Family Acquisition Endowment Fund, Robert O. Breitling, Jr. Acquisition Endowment Fund, WISH Foundation Fund of The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and through prior acquisition

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Tickets are limited - Michael Rooks and T.I - Monday, February, 24th, 2014, 7pm Rich Theatre, Atlanta

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SOLD OUT - Tonight - Michael Rooks and T.I. at 7pm Rich Theatre, ATL

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Michael Rooks joins panel discussion tonight at Goat Farm Arts Center

TANZ FARM // A PERFORMANCE ANTHOLOGY SERIES III LAUNCHES TONIGHT

Tanz Farm's mission is anchored in the agency of risk-taking to expand boundaries, and render experimentation with new ideas and philosophies in contemporary art. glo and The Goat Farm Arts Center are delighted to continue our 2nd season. FEED\\ Tonight at 7pm Museums as Performance Institutions Please join us for a spirited public conversation between Atlanta writers, curators and artists, on visual art spaces deepening relationship with ephemeral work and the public's growing desire to be drawn inward by creative process and live experiences. With ArtsATL Editor-in-Chief Catherine Fox and Arts Writer Cinque Hicks and Annette Cone-Skelton, Co-founder, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia | Teresa Reeves, Chief Curator, Zuckerman Museum of Art |Rebecca Stone, Faculty Curator of Art of the Ancient Americas, Michael C. Carlos Museum and Michael Rooks, New Wieland Family Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, High Museum. Free & Open to the Public Delicious spirits and cider will be served Tanz Farm takes place at the Goat Farm Arts Center in Atlanta.

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Tickets are limited - Michael Rooks and T.I - Monday, February, 24th, 2014, 7pm Rich Theatre, Atlanta

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Medford Johnston Samburu, 1988 Acrylic, modeling paste, and pencil on canvas Overall: 60 x 45in. (152.4 x 114.3cm), Framed/Mounted: 63 3/4 x 48 x 2 3/8in. (161.9 x 121.9 x 6cm) Anonymous gift through the 20th Century Art Acquisition Fund 1988.45 © Medford Johnston

Medford Johnston: Counterpoise

February 8-June 8, 2014

  Counterpoise brings together two interrelated bodies of work produced by Atlanta-based artist Medford Johnston between 1987 and 1990 upon returning from East Africa, where he spent time following an academic sabbatical.  Johnston's paintings offer a visual interplay between line, form and color that is specific to his experiences of the Samburu, Kikuyu and Masai cultures during travels throughout Tanzania and Kenya. They feature variations on a theme inspired by Masai walking staffs, which are used not only for balance while herding cattle, but also as a protective weapon against animals that threaten both the herdsmen and their charges. The jagged contour of the staff in juxtaposition with the graceful poise of its owner, seen in silhouette against the horizon of East African plains, inspired Johnston's years-long study of balance, counterbalance and dissonance in the interdependent relationship between people and nature.

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Jim Waters Untitled, 2013 Acrylic and vinyl on panel Dimensions various Courtesy of the artist © Jim Waters

Splendor: The Work of Jim Waters

February 8-June 8, 2014

  Splendor presents work from the past five years by Atlanta-based artist Jim Waters and features two related aspects of his practice: drawing and installation. Essential to all of Waters' work is light – the perception of colors produced by individual wavelengths of light – movement, and the science of optics. Waters' drawings are created using a vocabulary of materials and forms that he has developed over the course of his career. He employs the reflective properties of materials such as glitter, resin and holographic vinyl to amplify the symbolic potential of graphic form and to draw a personal and emotional response from his audience.  The installation, which comprises forty-five sixteen-point stars, explores the dynamics of perception, beginning with the fundamental understanding of light as motion itself. Even the slightest movement on the part of the viewer triggers a continually shifting field of reflected light on the surfaces of the cut-out panels, which hover a short distance from the surface of the wall. The resulting work transcends science to evoke a consciousness of the environment that feels symbolic, magical or spiritual in effect.

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Friends of Contemporary Art and Director's Circle Special Event

Medford Johnston: Counterpoise and Splendor: The Work of Jim Waters   VIP opening Reception: Friday, February 7, 6:30PM

Medford Johnston, Samburu, 1988 Acrylic, modeling paste, and pencil on canvas Overall: 60 x 45in. (152.4 x 114.3cm), Framed/Mounted: 63 3/4 x 48 x 2 3/8in. (161.9 x 121.9 x 6cm) Anonymous gift through the 20th Century Art Acquisition Fund 1988.45 © Medford Johnston

Counterpoise presents works by Atlanta-based artist Medford Johnston produced between 1987 and 1990, which are based on a trip he made to Tanzania and Kenya.  Johnston’s paintings convey in an abstract visual vocabulary his impressions of the Samburu, Kikuyu, and Masai cultures and feature variations on a theme inspired by Masai walking staffs, used for balance while herding cattle, and as a protective weapon. The jagged contour of the staff in juxtaposition with the graceful poise of its owner, silhouetted against the horizon of East African plains, inspired Johnston’s years-long study of balance, counterbalance, and dissonance in the interdependent relationship between people and nature.

Jim Waters, Untitled, 2013 Acrylic and vinyl on panel Dimensions various Courtesy of the artist © Jim Waters

Splendor presents new work by Atlanta-based artist Jim Waters featuring a site-specific installation and drawings from the past five years.  Waters uses materials such as glitter, resin, and holographic vinyl in his work to amplify the symbolic potential of form while eliciting an emotional response from viewers. His imagery suggests a symbiotic relationship between the natural and artificial –between geometric shapes and complex organic structures, and those in between. Their seemingly inexhaustible transmutations prompt a reflection on beauty, both aesthetic and spiritual, as conveyed by their simplicity of form, their subtlety of surface, and the resplendent radiance of their materiality.

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Sarah Sze (American, born 1969) Day, 2005 Offset lithography and silkscreen

Paper & Ink: New Print Acquisitions from the High Museum of Art

January 18-June 15, 2014

This exhibition highlights recent print acquisitions for the High Museum of Art's permanent collection.