Calendar

Gregory Allen Smith takes the title of his sculpture exhibit from a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “What is a weed? A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” Using materials that are both conventional and unconventional, often discarded and found, Smith comments on human wastefulness and our relationship with nature. “I like to imagine how our misguided ‘control’ of the planet could affect future evolution,” he says, “and then combine this idea with my love of plants and animals along with pop culture, science fiction, and nostalgia. The colors of the pieces come from natural representations of toxicity, which are vivid and psychedelic. The newer addition of neon and phosphorescent refer back to my youth in the 90’s, when glowing neon and plastic seemed to be in every edgy storefront or new animated television show.”

Smith earned his Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication with an emphasis in Photography from Middle Tennessee State University In 2006. After moving back to Memphis, he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Memphis in 2014. Since then, he has held the fulltime position of preparator at David Lusk Gallery.

Remy Miller will exhibit drawings from a series entitled “Bridges” in the gallery foyer, with a public reception being held on Friday, February 21 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The exhibition will run through April 3.

Miller says that the drawings in “Bridges” are focused on four abandoned railroad bridges in Cordova, TN, near his home. They are drawn from a body of around 80 works on paper produced from December 2017 to the present. “I didn’t expect to spend so much time with them, but they have kind of become my muse,” he says. Never comfortable assigning meaning to his work, Miller adds, “I know my own mind, but it is not for me to tell viewers what to think. That being said, even I can see them appearing to be about nature and human conceit. I certainly did not set out with that in mind, but I can understand how they could be seen that way.”

Miller was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and spent his childhood in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, eventually finishing high school back in Connecticut. He holds a BFA in Painting from the University of Connecticut and an MFA in Painting from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He has been making paintings and drawings for almost 40 years and has been teaching for about the same amount of time. Thirty of those years he spent at Memphis College of Art.

Gregory Allen Smith takes the title of his sculpture exhibit from a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “What is a weed? A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” Using materials that are both conventional and unconventional, often discarded and found, Smith comments on human wastefulness and our relationship with nature. “I like to imagine how our misguided ‘control’ of the planet could affect future evolution,” he says, “and then combine this idea with my love of plants and animals along with pop culture, science fiction, and nostalgia. The colors of the pieces come from natural representations of toxicity, which are vivid and psychedelic. The newer addition of neon and phosphorescent refer back to my youth in the 90’s, when glowing neon and plastic seemed to be in every edgy storefront or new animated television show.”

Smith earned his Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication with an emphasis in Photography from Middle Tennessee State University In 2006. After moving back to Memphis, he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Memphis in 2014. Since then, he has held the fulltime position of preparator at David Lusk Gallery.

Remy Miller will exhibit drawings from a series entitled “Bridges” in the gallery foyer, with a public reception being held on Friday, February 21 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The exhibition will run through April 3.

Miller says that the drawings in “Bridges” are focused on four abandoned railroad bridges in Cordova, TN, near his home. They are drawn from a body of around 80 works on paper produced from December 2017 to the present. “I didn’t expect to spend so much time with them, but they have kind of become my muse,” he says. Never comfortable assigning meaning to his work, Miller adds, “I know my own mind, but it is not for me to tell viewers what to think. That being said, even I can see them appearing to be about nature and human conceit. I certainly did not set out with that in mind, but I can understand how they could be seen that way.”

Miller was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and spent his childhood in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, eventually finishing high school back in Connecticut. He holds a BFA in Painting from the University of Connecticut and an MFA in Painting from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He has been making paintings and drawings for almost 40 years and has been teaching for about the same amount of time. Thirty of those years he spent at Memphis College of Art.