Senior art major Akilah Spears (left) and junior art major Gerard Bell (right)took a break from sculpture class to view the “Palimpsest” exhibit in the Contemporary Art Gallery.
The Lion's Roar/File Photo
An artist’s work does not end when the paint dries or when the first piece is hung in a gallery. It ends when the first patron becomes lost in a world of visual inspiration.
Senior art major and preparator for the Contemporary Art Gallery Trent Pechon describes the “Palimpsest” exhibition as “easy to take in and enjoy.” Pechon admits that he was inspired by artist Nicole Charbonnet’s work in the exhibition.
“What I find unique about Charbonnet’s work is the more time I spend with it, the more it intrigues and entices me,” said Pechon. “Charbonnet’s attention to detail unfolds the pieces’ history before the viewer’s eyes.”
As a New Orleans native, Charbonnet described her childhood as great and admitted that she first gained interest in art as a child.
Charbonnet participated in education endeavors in the United States and France to master techniques. Charbonnet studied at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Art in 1985. She studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art in Lacoste, France in 1986. The following year she studied at the Academie Goetz in Paris, France. In 1988, she received a B.A. from the University of Virginia. Charbonnet later earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at Boston University in 1991.
According to Charbonnet, the best lessons that she learned from her numerous sources of education were to “be dedicated, tenacious, assiduous and persevering, work hard and keep working.”
A combination of collages and paint are used in Charbonnet’s artwork to create an intended pattern of examining “historical and archetypal associations.”
“This superimposition of textures, images, words and veils of fabric and paper create a visual threshold which is something to look at as well look through,” said Charbonnet. “I often incorporate stereotypical images of America as a way of exploring our perception of ourselves and identity as members of a society.”
Charbonnet admitted that most of her inspiration comes from relationships, nature, literature, music and visual art with a focus on perception, cognition and memory as seen in the “Palimpsest” exhibition.
“Memory serves as both source and subject of my work,” said Charbonnet. “We all see through the cloudy lens of our own thoughts, dreams and desires. Just as our minds retain numerous layers of ideas, feelings and images, however vague or distorted, the resulting surfaces of my paintings retain a palimpsestic memory of preexisting stages. Some gestures and colors are obfuscated while others remain visible even if shaped by previous or subsequent events.”
The “Palimpsest” exhibition began on Wednesday, Jun. 1 and will end on Thursday, Aug. 18 with a closing reception at noon. The show is free and open to the public.
Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. On Wednesdays, the Contemporary Art Gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
For more information, contact the art gallery at 985-549-5080.