Main Gallery : Recent Paintings by Robert Natkin

Graphics Gallery : The Photographs of Jack Spencer

Flanders Contemporary Art is very pleased to announce our new featured exhibits-The Photographs of Jack Spencer and Recent Paintings by Robert Natkin, both opening with a reception on Friday, June 8th from 6 to 9 p.m., both artists will be in attendance. Both exhibits will run through July 14, 2001.

In our Graphics Gallery we are pleased to present the photographs of Tennessee based artist Jack Spencer. Spencer first captured the national spotlight with his first book Native Soil (1999, LSU Press), and since then has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibits around the country, and most recently in St. Petersburg, Russia. His book came from a desire to document and record the countryside and people he considered home, the Deep South and the denizens there. His touching and often haunting portraits and landscapes seem to contain that very same mysticism that has attracted writers and artists for years. His most recent body of work, which is also included in this exhibit, focuses on an even deeper south-Mexico. Continuing on with portraits and landscapes, he further establishes himself as a major contemporary photographer. All of Spencer's images are hand printed, then toned, with a variety of methods, to further add to the mystique of the images he so masterfully captures.

We are also very pleased to present the paintings of Robert Natkin. Natkin, a major East Coast painter, has been establishing his presence in the art world for years. His paintings are included in numerous major Museum, Corporate and Private Collections-The Solomon R. Guggenheim, MoMA and The Whitney Museum of American Art, to name a few. He masterfully captures seamless and ever changing perspectives in paintings, which have been compared to the works of Mark Rothko and others. Natkin prefers to leave subject and content a mystery, choosing instead to have the viewer draw their own interpretations, and ultimately find their way to the "the core of the painting". This exhibit will feature a wide range of paintings on canvas, paper and mylar, covering the last ten plus years of the artist's oeuvre. A twenty page full color catalogue, including an essay by Mr. Natkin, has been published to coincide with this exhibit, and is available through the gallery.

Flanders Contemporary Art is located at 400 North First Avenue, first floor in the Wyman Building. Gallery hours are 10 to 5 Tuesday through Saturday, and by appointment.

To request further information or visuals, please contact Christopher or Doug at 612-344-1700. or via e-mail at <art@flanders-art.com>.