July 10 - August 22, 2020
A group exhibition featuring artists Floyd Newsum, George Smith, Kaneem Smith, and Idowu Oluwaseun.
“The exhibit will be available through our online viewing room Friday, July 10, 2020 through Saturday August 22, 2020.
Nicole Longnecker Gallery begins their eighth year with a virtual group exhibit, “Through My Eyes,” featuring artists Floyd Newsum, George Smith, Kaneem Smith, and Idowu Oluwaseun. These four artists use different media and styles to illustrate the African-American point of view that can be direct and immediate, or poetic and symbolic.
“‘Through My Eyes” celebrates four of our Houston artists: two of our most established artists alongside two artists we are welcoming to the gallery,” said gallery owner Nicole Longnecker. “Their unique visual languages reflect disparate influences and narratives reminding us of the power of art to voice a need for change at a time we need it more than ever. The works contemplate issues of race, class, repression and struggle while showing us strength, community and a rich history. We hope these works give you space to contemplate the issues and injustices in our community.”
FLOYD NEWSUM: Floyd Newsum, a painter and printmaker with a career spanning four decades, is a Houstonian by way of Memphis. Currently a University of Houston Art Instructor, he spent his childhood years in Tennessee and received his bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts in Memphis before moving to Philadelphia where he earned a master’s degree in Fine Art.
His work is often filled with a signature combination of marks, and abstract patterns along with fish, birds, and ladders. His compositional style generally feels childlike; however, his subject matter centers on cultural climates, political statements, and world events. The contrast of his naive style and serious state of the world focus lend a multi-dimensional quality to his work.
Floyd Newsum has two paintings in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. His work can be seen in many important private collections around the country and many museum collections, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
GEORGE SMITH: George Smith earned a BFA degree in sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MA degree from Hunter College, CUNY where he studied with sculptor Tony Smith. Smith was awarded many fellowships and grants including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment Individual Grant, a National Endowment Planning Grant, and two New York State Council on the Arts Creative Artist Public Service Grant (CAPS) and two Cultural Arts Council of Houston Grants.
His sculptures have been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the United States including the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Studio Museum of Harlem. Among his many permanent sculptural commissions are Lubben Plaza for the A.H. Belo Foundation in Dallas, Texas, the Niagara Frontier Transit Authority in Buffalo New York, and the Metropolitan Rapid Transportation Authority in Atlanta, Georgia. His work is also represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Houston Airport Authority Collection, and The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas.
KANEEM SMITH: Kaneem Smith was born in Buffalo, NY, raised and based in Houston where has she has been a practicing visual artist and fine arts educator since 2003. She had studied at Rice University and the Maryland Institute College of Art before receiving her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Sarah Lawrence College, and then her Master of Fine Arts Degree from Syracuse University.
She has exhibited at the Mönchskirche Museum in Germany; Texas Southern University Museum; Project Row Houses, and at Dallas Center of Contemporary Art, among others. Her work has been included in numerous group shows in venues, such as the Art League Houston, Station Museum of Contemporary Art; Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ; Amarillo Museum of Art; National Art Gallery, Athens, Greece; Lima Art Museum, Peru, as well as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Kaneem has received several awards for her work including an Artadia Award and Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant in 2017.
IDOWU OLUWASEUN: Idowu Oluwaseun (born Oluwaseun Idowu; June 30, 1982) is a Nigerian contemporary artist who works primarily with acrylic paint, but also uses other media; oil, watercolor, charcoal, and pastel among others. Idowu attended Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Nigeria where he studied painting and went to the Kunstakademie Düesseldorf, Germany and graduated with “Meister Schueler” from Prof. Rita McBride.
During his early days at the Kunstakademie, Idowu had his first solo show in Mettmann, Germany. He also has participated in various group shows in Nigeria, Europe, and the United States. After finishing college in Germany, he now lives and works in Houston, Texas.”
Nicole Longnecker Gallery (Old location)
3233 West 11th Street
Houston, 77008 Texas
713-591-4997
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