Upstairs Artspace to host two Southern-themed exhibits next month

Published 8:00 am Saturday, April 21, 2018

Upstairs Artspace, of Tryon, will celebrate atmosphere and action in the “new” South with new exhibits.

“Looking Away: Arden Cone and Glen Miller” and “Repressed Beauty: Recent Work by Patti Brady” will open Saturday, May 5, with a walk and talk by the artists at 5 p.m., and reception with music and refreshments from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

“Looking Away” references history, politics and a Southerner’s relationship with self and nature. Glen Miller paints that relationship with hints of mystery, unease and deep affection.

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Miller has enjoyed more than 20 solo shows and many group ones. A native of Tennessee, he resides in Greenville, South Carolina, where he’s an adjunct professor of art at Furman University and is represented by the Hampton III Gallery.

Arden Cone receives a master’s degree in fine arts this month from Boston University. The young native of Landrum, has garnered praise for provocative subject matter and painting skill.

In “Looking Away,” Cone explores a revisionism of Southern history in oversized paintings about Confederate monuments, calling it an investigation and remembrance of “the painful, internal conflict …called the Civil War.”

In addition to their paintings, Cone and Miller are exhibiting installations. Cone’s is an dinner table set with satirical “art” plates, while Miller’s consists of six life-size figures representing people of Southern Appalachia.

Patti Brady’s “Repressed Beauty” explodes with color and design painted on Plexiglass. Inspired by wallpaper and fabric patterns, Brady hopes the work raises questions about meanings of femininity.

A longtime promoter of Golden acrylic paints, Brady retired recently to make art full time in her Greenville studio. She is widely exhibited and in many public and private collections, including the Morris Museum and Greenville County Museum.

For more information, visit www.upstairsartspace.org. The exhibit runs through June 15.

-Submitted by Nancy Holmes