Better Days IV by Michael Holsomback. Click to enlarge.
Cleveland State Community College will present an exhibition of paintings by artist Michael Holsomback Jan. 6–30.
The exhibit will be in the first floor gallery of the Adkisson Administration Building and will be open during regular college hours, 8 a.m.–8 p.m., Monday – Thursday and 8 a.m.–4 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday by appointment only
There will also be a Meet-the-Artist Reception Wednesday, Jan. 22 from 5-7 p.m. in the first floor gallery of the Adkisson Administration Building.
"Many art lovers are familiar with Michael Holsomback's collages and assemblages, but if they haven't seen his recent oil paintings, they'll be very surprised,” Jere Chumley, CSCC Associate Professor of Art and Curator of the Exhibit, said. “Holsomback has been working on very large formats, up to 8 feet, and he has really been pushing the paint around! I would like to encourage people to visit the exhibit, meet Michael, and enjoy some very 'painterly' works of art.”
Holsomback received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from the University of Georgia and a Master’s of Fine Arts in Painting and Printmaking from East Tennessee State University. Holsomback currently teaches all levels and sections of Painting and has previously taught Drawing I and II, Introduction to Art History and 3-D Design at Chattanooga State.
Holsomback has received several awards and distinctions in art, including the Chattanooga State Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award-Art Department in 1997, the Merit Award for Art with a Southern Drawl from the Southeastern Regional Competition and Exhibition at the University of Mobile and the First Place Award in the Area Artists Show at Cleveland State.
The figurative oil paintings are entitled The Promised Land: A Search for Place and Peace Within 21st Century America. Holsomback uses his painterly style of dramatic color patches to construct complex surfaces and even more complex and often mysterious narratives.
The artist examines shifting social boundaries and stereotypes within self-conscious post-modern dramas of anti-heroes and lost prophets. Holsomback seeks to reveal the struggle to find our place in the world; to satisfy our dreams and desires; and to live out lives with a sense of peace and accomplishment in this 21st century Promised Land.