Charles Clary featured at Thyen-Clark Cultural Center January and February

Jasper Community Arts with support from Meyer Distributing will present the work of South Carolina paper artist Charles Clary for the months of January and February at the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center.

Clary uses paper to create a world of fiction that challenges the viewer to suspend disbelief and venture into his fabricated reality.

He layers paper to build intriguing land formations that mimic viral colonies and concentric sound waves. These strange landmasses contaminate and infect the surfaces they inhabit transforming the space into something suitable for their gestation. Towers of paper and color jut into the viewer’s space inviting playful interactions between the viewer and this conceived world. These constructions question the notion of microbial outbreaks and their similarity to the visual representation of sound waves, transforming them into something more playful and inviting.

“My most recent paper installation sculptures deal with the idea that music is an intangible virus, and we, the viewers, are the carriers that spread this “disease” from one space to another,” said Clary. “Each paper tower resembles computer generated sound waves, petri dishes, bacterial and viral colonies, as well as fungal and mold growths; the towers represent the similarities that each share on the micro level. Context is removed, inviting the viewer to closely explore the work without fear of being infected. These works explore the constant “growth” of my installations, which if left alone to gestate, will eventually take over entire spaces, infesting every surface they touch. This ominous feeling is counter-balanced by bright, garish color schemes, which evoke playful interactions with each tower.”

Recently, Clary’s work has become more personal, at least through the process of creation, through the impact of cancer

“In February of 2013 I lost both my mother and father, two weeks apart, to smoking-related cancers,” Clary said. “It was a devastating time in my life, but I channeled my grief into the conceptual ideas of my work. Cancer is a disease that is a perfectly structured killer; it is beautiful in its architecture but grotesque in its eventuality.”

Clary holds a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Middle Tennessee State University.

Charles Clary’s solo exhibition will be on display from January 6th through February 20, 2022.

First Thursday Reception will take place on Thursday, January 6th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. A gallery talk by Clary will begin at 5:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

The galleries at the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center, located at 100 3rd Avenue, Suite A, Jasper, IN 47546, are open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 3:00 p.m. School groups, clubs and students are welcome. Admission is free. Donations appreciated.