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/.

Art as a Movement

By JaJuan Isaacs
Motlow Buzz Contributing Writer

Growing up a visual artist, I learned to appreciate different forms of creativity that form what we call art today. I have made it my mission to inform the readers of this blog site of various and creative art forms that have impacted my life and interested me in general.

Art can be portrayed in many different ways. Many artists are visual and use forms such as paint, sculpture or drawing. Other visual artists such as photographers and videographers use cameras to capture live-action moments. Art is something opinion-based determined by the artist.
          When people hear the word art, they instantly think of paintbrushes and pencils, and they forget to include the clothing designers, make-up artists, musicians, poets, chefs and anything else that is considered an art form. The reality is, literally anything can be art, and as humans, it is our job to appreciate and respect different cultures of art around the world. I am making it my mission to introduce the readers to a new way of thinking and better appreciation of art. With that being said, here are a few artists who have impacted my life.

These are some of the artists that have inspired me. Of all artists, they have managed to be more than different from every person who call themselves artists. Their ideas are original and have helped inspire me to express my creativity through various forms of art.

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish artist known for his various styles of art including cubism, surrealism and expressionism. Over the course of his life, Picasso managed to produce an estimated 50,000 artworks including paintings, sculptures, drawings, rugs, ceramics and tapestries. Many of his paintings can be found in museums across the globe. 

When I was introduced to his art, I instantly thought to myself, “What is this and why do the faces look like that?” The way he constructed the faces would sometimes have an eye where the nose is supposed to be and the nose in place of the eye, forcing me to ask the question, “Why?”. Well, the simple answer is that’s just what he liked to do, and in doing that he was able to build a plethora of unique masterpieces. 
Picasso was an artist that has helped to influence many artists like myself. His work is extraordinary in a variety of aspects and helps upcoming artists strive to be different. Learn more about Picasso at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pablo-Picasso

 Hype Williams is a film and video director known for directing many music videos throughout the 1990s and for a few movies such as “Belly.” In his videos, he more goes in-depth with greater detail than the common director. He differs from other video artists using unique angles, colors, sound, and even how he adds effects to skin tones.

One of the most iconic music videos he directed is “California Love” by Dr. Dre and Tupac. The video begins with actor and comedian Chris Tucker breaking the ice into the future-based video. Dr. Dre plays a cyborg and the other actors in the video, as well as Tupac, are revolutionaries. This was different from many of the typical rap/Hip-Hop videos because of his use of science-fiction. Many rappers look at science-fiction as “wack” or “lame” because it isn’t gangster or thuggish. Williams took advantage of his creativity, striving to be different and not a basic videographer. 
          Check this out: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/hype-williams-mn0001380160 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wBTdfAkqGU

          Williams has continued to direct music videos. A recent video he directed is “Finna Get Loose” by Puff Daddy and The Family featuring Pharell. The video has an ’80s vibe because of the instrumental and clothes worn, and Williams could not have done a better job directing. The video took off, especially with the help of rapper and producer Pharell Williams, who is also known for bringing an artistic flavor in his videos. 
          Watch now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Z9fUXNVoI

This mural, by artist Shelley Miller, is made of sugar and frosting decorations, and it looks like it could be made of everything but something you would eat. Art is something that comes from the creative mind, and it amazes me that people have brought it upon themselves to use food as their base for projects. This mural could have easily been painted or even created with fibers or metals, but Miller decided to use food simply because, “Why not?” Miller’s media for art just goes to prove that art can come from anything, and anyone can be an artist as long as they have passion for what they are doing. 
You can view her art at http://magazine.art21.org/2010/09/13/how-sweet-it-is-shelley-miller/sugar_day1/

 Over a recent weekend, I personally saw art from many different standpoints. University School of Nashville, a private school in the city, held an event called the Artcletic. While being there, I spoke with many different artists and heard how they go through the processes of creating their media. There were painters, pencil artists, soda can art, and many more to name.

 Of all the artists I spoke with, the most interesting was a man named Spears McAllester. He is a photographer who uses a special printer to print life-like images on aluminum. He had pictures of trees, rooms and nature that looked like the photos were jumping out of the frames. His process of editing is using Photoshop to edit and develop the images and sell them for $800. 
You can find some of his work at https://photographybyspears.com/f221685686

 Art is not only a wonderful hobby, but if good enough, can be a stable source of income.

          As I stated earlier, art comes in many shapes and forms. The creativity of people continues to change the world of art each and every day, and if continued, will bring in more art forms in the future.