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Solo exhibition at
Marcia Wood Gallery, Mimic, April 26 - June 9, 2012.
installation images
George Long's new work considers the nature of human behavior
with delicately executed, nuanced images of children. Together,
the exhibition title, "Mimic", the repeated imagery of
children similar to each other, and the artist's process, suggest
the trait of mirroring those around us as we develop our identities
while adding our unique qualities along the way. The drawings in
graphite, oil and venetian plaster on paper, are derived at through
a series of re-translations. Long makes original drawings of boys
in various stages of play and chores, set in either neutral space
or among piles of chopped wood, sometimes with a water tower or
shed delicately etched in the background. He then manipulates the
original drawings, through tracing, stamping, copying and transferring
them repeatedly onto the paper. In the process each generation
of the original image is degraded, and at the same time new information
is added. The final figures fade and shift, repeat, overlap, separate
and blend into each other with wispy, broken and smudged lines.
One thinks of dream sequences, time shifting, fleeting memories.
The boys are playful and active, standing alone or interacting
with another. They are about the same age, they could possibly
be the same boy, or brothers, mates, and they are suspended in
space, with only an occasional hint of place that feels rural and
benign. Long brings his trademark wit to the gallery installation,
replete with paper wood logs mimicking actual wood piles, and a
few more surprises.
George Long received his BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in
1995 and currently lives and works in Atlanta. His first solo exhibition
at Marcia Wood Gallery was in 2004, where he introduced the now
widely acclaimed 8 x 8 series. Long is versatile in a broad range
of media, including drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture and
metal working. He is also a member of the very active, experimental,
Atlanta based collaborative group, SSAR (Sunday Southern Art Revival).
Long's solo exhibitions include the Columbus Museum, Columbus,
GA, the University of West Georgia, Carrolton, GA, the Madison
County Art Council, Marshall N.C. the Spruill Gallery, Atlanta,
and Puritan Mill, Atlanta. Group exhibitions have included the
International Kunstler Kolonie Exhibition, Nuremburg, (and residency),
The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center (2007 Biennial and 2012 "Day
Job: Georgia), the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, Jacksonville,
FL, Tempus Projects, Tampa, FL, Dalton Gallery, Agnes Scott College,
Georgia, and Brenau University, Georgia, among others. In 2010
he received an NEA grant for public sculpture and sculpture exhibitions
include the AnnMrrie Sculpture Center in Solomon Island, Maryland,
North River Park, Charleston, SC, and the Chattahoochie Nature
Center, Roswell, GA, Art in Freedom Park, Atlanta, and Banaroo,
Manchester, Tenn. Long has exhibited with SSAR throughout Atlanta
and the southeast in galleries, art centers and public spaces,
including for the city of Atlanta Four Coats mural project, ELEVATE,
Underground Atlanta, Space One Eleven, Birmingham, Al,
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