Contemporary arts center OZ Arts Nashville is hosting an exhibition entitled “At Your Service,” featuring works from six visionary Nashville artists. Curated by OZ’s manager of artistic programming, Daniel Jones, the exhibit is inspired by the themes in Geoff Sobelle’s thoughtful and inventive theatrical creation FOOD. The works in “At Your Service” prompt visitors to consider many of the same themes at the heart of Sobelle’s performance work, namely the connections between humans and our sources of sustenance, and the ways we package parts of nature to serve our own needs.
“The singular Nashville artists in the exhibit share their unique perspectives about our modern era of consumption, each employing distinctive styles and visions in compelling ways,” says Mark Murphy, Executive and Artistic Director of OZ Arts. Art lovers can view the exhibit, reflecting on how disconnected we truly are from the origins of our food while considering whether we are serving the food – or whether the food is serving us.
Highlights of the exhibit are a new untitled work from popular artist Omari Booker that is an addition to his “Still Life’” series, which utilizes elements of traditional still life paintings to center unhoused members of society; a video creation from sensational artist Marlos E’van which was recently featured in their buzzworthy exhibit “Nico’s Playhouse” at Red Arrow Gallery; and an early work from local art maven Vadis Turner entitled “Fast Food Quilt,” which is made entirely from wrappers and packaging.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Omari Booker is a visual artist based between Nashville and Los Angeles, utilizing oil paintings as his primary medium to create both large-scale and intimate works.
Marlos E’van is a Nashville-based artist who interweaves different mediums such as painting, performance, and filmmaking to create worlds in which their art recollects black histories: joy, pain, celebration, sorrow, and complex emotions from reenacted scenes of American histories.
Annie Brito Hodgin is a largely self-taught, Hendersonville-based painter whose works are suggestive and rich in allusion. Her current work is a meditative exploration of trauma, ambiguity, absurdity, repression, and control.
Will Maddoxx is a Nashville-based artist working with 2-D media whose work deals with the figure, iconography, and sexuality. He describes his series of paintings ICONOCLASM as an “intentional, calculated response to the trauma queer people endure in the name of God.
Vadis Turner’s work re-contextualizes and transforms gendered materials into abstract paintings and sculptures. Her work has been featured in many solo exhibitions, including at the Frist Art Museum and the Huntsville Museum of Art, and is in permanent collections across the country.
Donna Woodley is a Nashville-based painter whose works explores the relationship between Black culture and American culture. She has been a featured artist in award-winning exhibitions nationally and internationally and teaches at Tennessee State University.
Those interested in viewing At Your Service should email OZ’s Manager of Artistic Programming and exhibit curator Daniel Jones at: daniel@ozartsnashville.org to make an appointment. To learn more about other upcoming exhibits and performances at OZ Arts, please visit: www.ozartsnashville.org.
