NICK BARBEE: RECENT WORK
A GAC Pop-Up Exhibition at 4411 Montrose
GALVESTON, Texas — Galveston Arts Center is pleased to present a pop-up exhibition of recent paintings and objects by Nick Barbee in conjunction with the Houston Fine Art Fair. The show will be presented at Houston’s 4411 Montrose, Suite F (second floor, across from Anya Tish Gallery). An opening reception will be held on Friday, September 7, from 6 to 8:30 pm. The exhibition will be on view September 8, and September 14-15, from 11 am to 5 pm.
Nick Barbee works in a variety of media exploring formal concerns of presentation, the history of abstraction, and historic narrative. Trained as a painter, Barbee recently finished a year-long residency at the newly inaugurated Galveston Artist Residency. While he has continued to paint—using watercolor on steel— Barbee also creates small sculptures, often arranged in odd juxtapositions or strange tableaux. He will exhibit both the objects and his painted “portraits” of these items made while in Galveston. “My time as a GAR resident was a combination of introspective studio time as well as discovery of the wonderfully weird island of Galveston,” writes Barbee. “A mosquito infested sandbar, Galveston is also home to rich histories, and an inventive, resourceful population. Living on this spit of land, at the edge of the map, I found galaxies in the seaweed, I knew the speed of light in a lump of plaster.”
Barbee received a BFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, in 2003, and an MFA from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 2009. He was a 2009–11 Core Fellow at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Glassell School of Art and has exhibited with Inman Gallery, Houston; McKinney Avenue Contemporary and CentralTrak, Dallas; and Doran Gallery, Boston. His work is currently included in the exhibition Mapping Galveston, on view at the Galveston Artist Residency Gallery through November 3, 2012.
The second annual Houston Fine Art Fair returns for an eagerly awaited encore at Houston’s Reliant Center, September 14 through 16. Last year, 10,500 enthusiastic art lovers explored the exhibitions. This year, 75+ distinctive exhibitors have been chose from across the US, Latin America and Europe, featuring modern and contemporary masters, mid-career and emerging artists from around the globe. HFAF will also feature memorable on-site installations, special projects, and an invigorating program of panel discussions designed for both novice and experienced collectors.
SUPPORT AND SPONSORSHIP
Funding for the Galveston Arts Center is provided by the Houston Endowment, Inc., The Brown Foundation Inc., The City of Galveston Park Board of Trustees through the Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund, The Meyer Levy Charitable Foundation of The Dallas Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund, Jack and Annis Bowen Foundation, and the generous support of the community, an active membership and many volunteers. GAC’s Art for All Education Program is supported in part by the Alice Taylor Gray Foundation, Harry S. and Isabel C. Cameron Foundation, Galveston Rotary Foundation, Inc., and VSS.
Photo 1: Nick Barbee, installation view from Galveston Artist Residency: The First Year exhibition at Galveston Arts Center, 2012
Photo 2: Nick Barbee, Selection s2, 2012, watercolor on steel, courtesy the artist, Galveston
Photo 3: Nick Barbee, installation detail from Galveston Artist Residency: The First Year exhibition at Galveston Arts Center, 2012