FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Rose Mary Gorman: 615.744.3332, ”
Ellen Jones Pryor: 615.243.1311, ”, ”
ANGELO FILOMENO: EROS AND THANATOS
AT THE FRIST CENTER FOR THE VISUAL ARTS
ON VIEW FEB. 15–JUNE 1, 2008
NASHVILLE, TENN.—(Jan. 24, 2008)—On Friday, Feb. 15, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts will open the exhibition Angelo Filomeno: Eros and Thanatos in the Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery. Organized by the Frist Center’s chief curator Mark Scala, the exhibition will be on view through June 1, 2008. The artist will discuss his work at an Artist’s Perspective gallery talk Saturday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. at the Frist Center.
Eros and Thanatos is composed of eight large-scale works, which feature exquisitely crafted embroidery, richly ornamented with jewel-like appliquéd elements. While inspired by a wide range of historical sources, the embroidered images offer lyrical reflections on the contradictions of life in the 21st century. “The works are a remarkable integration of intellectual provocation with consummate technical skill,” says Mark Scala, chief curator of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. “Their power and seductive beauty, brought to bear on a disturbing vision of contemporary existence, led us to select Filomeno’s work from an international field we were considering for our 2008 schedule.”
Filomeno’s embroidered “paintings” depict fragments of animals, plants and skeletons, which are juxtaposed to symbolize epic struggles between life and death, sensuality and decadence and evil and redemption. Despite their psychological tension and implicit brutality, the works have the decorative appeal of traditional European and Chinese textiles, with luxurious threads and glass crystals masterfully sewn and appliquéd in
neo-baroque designs onto sheets of Shantung silk.
Filomeno was born in 1963 in the southern Italian town of Ostuni. He began to learn needlework when, at the age of seven, he was sent by his parents to work for his godfather, a tailor. While the rambunctious child was dismayed at not being allowed to play with his friends after school, his parents told him that by sending him to learn such a useful trade “we put gold into your hands.” After his childhood apprenticeship, Filomeno earned his MFA in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lecce in southern Italy, and then worked in the fashion industry in Milan. Upon moving to New York, Filomeno made his living by producing theater costumes. He has exhibited widely in New York, Paris and throughout Italy, and his works were featured in the 2007 Venice Biennale.
Sponsor and Organizer
The Frist Center for the Visual Arts gratefully acknowledges the following exhibition sponsor:
• 2008 Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery Exhibition Sponsor:
Welling LaGrone and Morgan Keegan
Angelo Filomeno: Eros and Thanatos was organized by the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.
Special Programs
Saturday, Feb. 16 Artist’s Perspective: Angelo Filomeno
2 p.m.
Meet at the Information Desk
Free with purchase of gallery admission
Join artist Angelo Filomeno for a walk-through tour of his artwork on view in the Angelo Filomeno: Eros and Thanatos exhibition in the Frist Center’s Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery.
Friday, March 21 ARTini
7 p.m.
Meet in Frist Center Grand Lobby
Included with gallery admission
Anne Henderson, director of education at the Frist Center, will lead an informal conversation about Angelo Filomeno: Eros and Thanatos. Complete your evening with music in the Grand Lobby, martinis at the cash bar and visiting with friends.
Also on view
Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art
Feb. 15–June 1, 2008
Ingram Gallery
This exhibition includes more than 75 of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s most highly acclaimed 19th and 20th century masterpieces of painting and sculpture, all key examples from the European modernist movement. Includes works by Paul Cézanne, Salvador Dalí, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. This exhibition was organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Aaron Douglas: African American Modernist
On view through April 13, 2008
Upper-Level Galleries
Aaron Douglas was a leading artist of the Harlem Renaissance whose signature style includes silhouetted figures, flat forms and radiating bands of light. This is the first touring retrospective of his work and includes approximately 100 paintings, works on paper and book illustrations. Douglas spent much of his life in Nashville, Tenn., as head of the art department at Fisk University. Organized by the Spencer Museum of Art, the University of Kansas, Lawrence, with support from the Henry Luce Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Fisk University’s Art Faculty: The Legacy of Aaron Douglas
On view through May 11
Conte Community Arts Gallery
This exhibition celebrates the influence of Aaron Douglas on the art of Nashville and the nation as seen in works by 17 present and former faculty members of the Fisk University art department.
About the Frist Center
Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, located at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tenn., is an art exhibition center dedicated to presenting the finest visual art from local, regional, U.S. and international sources in a program of changing exhibitions. The Frist Center’s Martin ArtQuest Gallery features more than 30 interactive stations relating to Frist Center exhibitions. Gallery admission to the Frist Center is free for visitors 18 and younger and to Frist Center members. Frist Center admission is $8.50 for adults, $7.50 for seniors and military and $6.50 for college students with ID. Thursday evenings, 5–9 p.m., admission is free for college students with a valid college ID. Discounts are offered for groups of 10 or more with advance reservations by calling 615.744.3246. The Frist Center is open seven days a week: Mondays through Wednesdays, and Saturdays, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.–9 p.m. and Sundays, 1–5:30 p.m., with the Frist Center Café opening at noon. Additional information is available by calling 615.244.3340 or by visiting our Web site at http://www.fristcenter.org.
# # #
