Mississippi Contemporary Art Center Presents First Exhibition In Jackson, MS

JACKSON, MS – November 26, 2016 – The Mississippi Contemporary Art Center, (MCAC), will open with its inaugural exhibition, “Start the Fire,” with works by local artist, T.J. Legler on December 2, 2016. Presented by Coalesce Cooperative Working space, an opening reception will take place at 7 p.m. at 109 North State Street.

The Mississippi Contemporary Art Center (MCAC) is a new organization that will discover, exhibit, and encourage the innovative work of emerging artists from the state of Mississippi. The MCAC will cultivate an engagement with contemporary art by supporting the work of local artists. In seeking out these emerging innovators, the MCAC will build an audience for conceptual, experimental, and form-challenging media. It will present artists who are speaking with a strong visual vocabulary and whose work makes a comment on the medium.

The MCAC will scout the state looking for artists who possibly have never been in an exhibition, or had the opportunity to display their work because it was not traditional or representational. By presenting contemporary art exhibitions by Mississippi artists, the MCAC hopes to encourage other working artists to feel artistically empowered to create this type of work.

The MCAC’s first artist, T.J. Legler, creates “light paintings;” images on canvas that are photographed from a live performance of spinning steel wool on fire. The light creates sculptural shapes and dynamic patterns of light; temporal moments that are captured in time. The MCAC’s first group show will take place in 2017, named “meta•contemporary,” answering the question, “what is contemporary?” by artists who create original, experimental that comments on contemporary culture.

Founded by Mount Olive native Steve Clark, he decided to create the Mississippi Contemporary Art Center after two decades working as a Creative Director and curating exhibitions in Chicago. “Where would be the most unexpected place to open a gallery? I could open a space in Chicago or Los Angeles, but there are hundreds of galleries there,” Clark said. He feels there is a real need for a venue for artists living and working in Mississippi who want to remain in the state and continue to be artists. He describes a “southern ingenuity” that is distinctive in Mississippi artists.

Clark plans to have a dedicated space opened in Mississippi by 2018. Until then, he will rotate locations in Jackson and across the state. The MCAC will locate unexpected and vacant spaces for rent or lease, renovate them, and mount pop-up style exhibitions for 3-month periods. The spaces will be left in a “better state than they were found,” Clark said. The MCAC’s primary efforts will depend on its enrichment, investment, and support of the local communities where its exhibitions take place.

The MCAC’s core vision is to:

Discover emerging artists: The MCAC will act as a discovery center, finding new, emerging artists who are producing contemporary art and provide a venue for their work.
Cultivate an understanding of contemporary art: The MCAC hopes to foster an engagement with contemporary art, giving communities the opportunity to experience the effects of experimental, conceptual, and visually compelling work.
Enrich and involve the community: The MCAC will create interest in its exhibitions and efforts by presenting the work of local artists and opening exhibitions in their respective communities.


“We want to be respectful of the rich tradition of regional southern art, which comes from a legacy of storytelling. From a contemporary perspective, there is a “southern ingenuity” that exists with outsider or emerging artists who use the people, places, and issues that surround them to create exceptional, new work that defines their identity, culture, and talent.” —Steve Clark


About The Mississippi Contemporary Art Center

The MCAC will provide a venue where MS artists who are making current, contemporary art can showcase their work. Our center will inform, educate, and engage our local residents and visitors of innovators, experimenters, and commentators of visual, experiential, and conceptual art while being respectful of a strong, cultural tradition of regional, southern art. We will act as a discovery center that seeks out local, innovative artists. The MCAC will create a contextual understanding that contemporary art and artists work and exist in MS and want to share and communicate their vision within MS.

Visit our website: www.mcacjackson.com
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mcacjackson
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/mcacjackson

Contacts

Steve Clark
steve@mcacjackson.org
773.562.9495

Monica Sanusi Gelé
monica@mcacjackson.org
504.373.1069

The Mississippi Contemporary Art Center (MCAC) is a new organization that discovers, exhibits and encourages the innovative work of emerging artists of the state of MS. The MCAC will cultivate an engagement with contemporary art by providing a venue for local artists to present their work.

Mississippi Contemporary Art Center Exhibition
109 North State Street
Jackson, MS 39201
Steve Clark
773-562-9495

This release was published on openPR.