Virtual First Friday at the Manitou Art Center

Virtual First Friday continues at the Manitou Art Center on August 7!

August’s Virtual First Friday is going to be an exciting one! New shows in the Hagnauer and First Amendment galleries, including an opportunity to book a private tour! Printmaker John Odlin will be showing in the Hagnauer Gallery.

From the artist:

“2020 Sucks! We are losing control of global climate change, while, in America, we try to deal with the pandemic through magical thinking. Could there ever be a more appropriate time to think about moving away from isolated interests, and begin to think and act in terms of the larger shared interests of humanity? What does this have to do with art? For starters, art demonstrates that our interests and experiences don’t stop at borders or coastlines. You don’t have to be Asian to appreciate Yayoi Kusama, you don’t have to be European to appreciate Gerhard Richter, and you don’t have to be American to appreciate Willem de Kooning. Art connects us to each other and expresses our commonality.

Art can also reinforce stability in challenging times. The pandemic will pass. Art helps us know this by connecting the past to the present. Every generation of art is a link in a progression that goes from the ancient cave drawings to the latest phenom. We have a history of enduring. Wish I could say something positive about climate change, but as the world’s foremost pessimist on thatscore, I think I’ll leave it alone. More personally, I have to say I’m not a big fan of “artist’s statements”. I’ve always considered that when an artist fills a room with his work, that is the statement.

Alas, I cave!

My concern is to create a unitary statement. I want to feel like each work is complete within itself, that each work achieves its ownidentity though the channeling of its components towards a central goal.”