City Native 'Red' Grooms Cultures Nashville at Tennessee State Museum

By JaJuan Isaacs

Motlow Buzz Contributing Writer

            NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The recently built Tennessee State Museum is culturing Nashville by temporarily hosting Charles “Red” Grooms works for an exhibit called “Red Grooms: A Retrospective” at its new location at 1000 Rosa L. Parks Blvd. in Nashville.

             Of all exhibits, the Red Grooms art display was by far the most interesting being held. The artist, Charles “Red” Grooms, goes in-depth with his various styles of art. Grooms has created art in pop art, animations, portraits, paintings, sculptures and many other genres.

While most famously known for his pop art, visitors enjoy Grooms’s extraordinary portraits. His painting “Self Portrait” provides fine detail to the man’s neck and head. The subject’s neck was long and skinny, and his head was bigger and rounder toward the top, symbolizing a big brain.

            The exhibit had five panels that increased by decade with text that explained more about the artist’s life and works. The titles of the panels are “Artistic Awakening,” “New Media, New Forms,” “Urban Expression,” “Into New Dimensions,” and “Home and History.” Visitors were able to gain more knowledge about his inspirations, what art he created, and how he produced his works.

            The “Artistic Awakening” panel read, “Grooms spent the 1950s discovering his style. As a teenager, Grooms joined adult artist organizations. He attended several college art programs and studied with various artists.”

Visitors are able to further understand how important learning new styles was to Grooms.  

“His diversity as an artist is why I chose him out of all other Nashville artists,” said Hoobler.

“New Media, New Forms” explains his experience with film in the ‘60s and how he and Rudy Burckhardt created the film “Shoot the Moon.”

“Urban Expression” explains how Grooms took city living and captivated 1970s urban life in a color lithograph he titled “Nervous City.”
                “Into New Dimensions” explains how Grooms combined printmaking with sculpture in 1981. He teamed up with lithographer Bud Shark and they created “Ruckus Taxi.” “Ruckus Taxi” was their first three-dimensional print.

“Home and History” explains how Grooms paid tribute to Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock by making his own versions of their works. He used his home state of Tennessee for inspiration and created the “Tennessee Fox Trot Carousel” to honor the state’s history.

 The exhibit displayed sculptures, pop-art and paintings in various categories. Grooms was better at painting than any of the other mediums.

            Jim Hoobler curated the Red Grooms exhibit and chose him in particular because of his history in the city.

 “Red Grooms is just a remarkable artist born in Nashville, and I wanted to have some culture by someone from the city,” said Hoobler.

The free exhibit will be open through Jan. 13. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m, and on Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. The museum hosts many temporary exhibits that indoctrinate Tennessee and America. There are exhibits about the Civil War, WWII, artists and Memphis musicians.

            You can find more information about the Tennessee State Museum at https://tnmuseum.org/ and more information about “Red” Grooms at http://www.artnet.com/artists/red-grooms/.