Farrington Smith Gallery’s upcoming show brings together four talented artists, who, though diverse, share a broad and colorful visual language with a distinct and personal Southern flavor. Please join us for the opening Saturday, Nov. 10 from 6-9 p.m.
Scott Guion
Scott Guion was born in New Orleans in 1971 and had been a lifelong resident until his family’s recent relocation to Nashville. He is a self-taught musician and painter whose music and art are a direct reflection of the sights and sounds of his native home. Growing up here, his exposure to art “was basically seeing a well-painted po-boy on a corner grocery store or watching Bob Ross on PBS every Sunday.”
“As an adult trying to make a living as an artist in New Orleans meant trying to paint a second-lining crawfish or an alligator wearing a Mardi Gras mask. These are all part of my visual vocabulary. I can’t identify with what people call modern or abstract art as much as I can identify with the mural painted on the front of Rim City or R.C. Bridge Lounge.”
Scott’s work incorporates all these local influences with a wider pop culture influence including comic books, cartoons, and celebrities. His murals and decorative work can be seen in House of Blues venues, galleries and residences across the country.
Keith Frutiger
Social commentary and personal experience underline an important role in creating Keith Frutiger’s artwork. With fifteen years of experience as a scenic painter, his compositions contain a theatrical air, inviting the viewer in to observe the narrative.
This body of work includes the use of vintage wallpaper, incorporating it as a visual component and invoking the nostalgia of his youth. Growing up, Keith spent time on his grandparents’ dairy farm in Minnesota, which left an indelible imprint on him. Using a combination of acrylic and oil paints, glazes, tin and gilding, he captures those moments, often using symbolic and cartoon images instead of literal ones. Humor is an important element in his work, no matter how dark the situation.
Now a resident of Atlanta, Keith has most recently exhibited at the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art in Augusta, GA in 2007 and at the Farrington Smith Gallery in 2006. Keith has a B.F.A. in painting from the University of Wisconsin/Madison.
Melanie Guion
Melanie is a self-taught artist and musician. Originally from Arizona, she did some traveling before deciding to call New Orleans home in 1994. New Orleans opened her eyes to some amazing music, art and people, and it was there that she met people who were creating without rules or pretensions.
After years of doing decorative painting for House of Blues venues throughout the country, she began doing installation pieces on shoes. At first, they were strictly design, but soon she began to sneak in some portraits as well. Now the shoes have taken on a life of their own as the musicians and faces that Melanie likes to paint continue to grow. In addition to the shoe shrines, she continues to work with other surfaces and shapes, always with the festive, glittery, adorned style that is her own.
After 13 years in New Orleans, Melanie and her family have recently relocated to Nashville.
Tim Jordan
Artist Tim Jordan’s output encompasses many disciplines, from folk to performance art.
After successful beginnings a a fish filleter, Jordan was attracted to the world of antiques. As an apprentice in the Partridge school, he studied restoration and renovation, learning archaic skills such as filling, carcase dressing and rope-work, as well as gaining an insight into Jacobean sign-writing techniques. His close proximity to and growing understanding of fine art led him to develop his own genre of naive bucolic paintings, often painted under pseudonyms. Realizing he had been suppressing his latent surrealist tendencies, he “came out” and allowed his imagination free reign.
The Kent art scene proved to be too restrictive for his burgeoning talent, so, in the early 90s, he migrated to the United States, specifically New Orleans. Initially finding work as a sign-writer, Jordan’s vision led him to do work for the House of Blues nightclub chain, allowing him to help create settings for the world’s largest collection of folk art.
Jordan’s own art has gained him a reputation for his “Ghost” billboards, performing animals, tattooed livestock, mythical messengers and cryptic signs. Now splitting his time between New Orleans, Canterbury and London, Tim’s unique history and life lends to his unique vision.
This show’s opening is on Saturday, November 10 from 6-9, with Keith Frutiger and Scott Guion in attendance. It will be on view until December 1. Please contact us at 504-942-8600 for more information.
-Amy
