Opening this evening at Levy Gallery at the Buckman is An Open Book, a joint show featuring paintings by Richard L. Harper and the sculptures of Meg Zachry.
Harper’s paintings are on shaped canvas, cut to look like books or abstract shapes reminiscent of books. He is particularly interested in the role art books play in our relationship with art. “Not many people acknowledge how much people rely on reproduction in books and prints of famous artwork,” says Harper. “In fact a lot of artists know paintings but they’ve never seen the original. It’s kind of a look at art history and how we perceive art.”
Some of his work moves towards the abstract, some of it is cleverly representative. “I had a painting with a gutter in it — a gutter is the place where the book is bound, the trough in the center — and lots of art books will put paintings across the gutter and that kind of bothered me. So my first painting was of an El Greco painting. It goes across the gutter and Jesus is right in the middle of the gutter. It’s kind of humorous in that regard.”
Meg’s pieces focus more on the human condition as an open book, using bodies and faces to show the way we express our inner state. Working in bronze, plaster, and mosaic, Meg’s pieces add human curves to Harper’s sharp, colorful pieces.
The opening reception is this evening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and the show will run until October 29. Levy Gallery is free and open to the public, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment.
Levy Gallery at the Buckman Arts Center, 60 Perkins Ext., 537-1483, www.stmarysschool.org/thebuckman