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Event Archive — Barry Spann: Twenty-One Still Lifes

Barry Spann: Twenty-One Still Lifes

Opening reception: Friday, October 6, 2017 from 5-8 p.m.

Press Release Segment

Comprised entirely of oil paintings, Twenty-One Still Lifes is an unprecedented body of work from the Knoxville native artist that was created specifically for exhibit at the gallery.

A longtime resident of Sequoyah Hills, Spann studied printmaking at the University of Tennessee, and is an international artist whose paintings, prints, and drawings are in many collections worldwide. In 1990, Spann was commissioned by Whittle Communications to produce the artwork for its new headquarters in Knoxville (now the Howard H. Baker, Jr. US Courthouse). The resulting million-dollar project was the largest of its kind in Tennessee history.

For the past decade, Spann has been working on projects in Paris and Beijing, but he has now returned to the local scene with an all-new series of paintings. With lush color and a Zen-like simplicity, Twenty-One Still Lifes conveys the harmony of a spiritual realm with the material one. “To say of painting what Dōgen said of Buddhism,” says Spann, “It is to study yourself, and to study yourself is to forget yourself.”

 

Critical Reception

Harold Duckett: “Barry Spann’s work evolves full circle.” Knox TN Today