Central Campus Gallery Presents Apples to Apples
The San Jacinto College Central Campus Art Gallery opens Apples to Apples on Wednesday, Aug. 28, featuring a body of work constructed using non-traditional materials by multi-disciplinary artist Celia Butler. With several works created specifically for this exhibition, Apples to Apples is on view through Wednesday, Sept. 25 and reflects the artists’ interest in childlike associations with innocence, reward, and celebration and the contrasting adult association of bad habits, guilt, and sensuality.
At the crux of this investigation is the idealized female, caught between childhood and adulthood, a product of the myth of fairytales and the presentation of female character archetypes. These ideas coalesce in the pairing of braided strands of long blond hair looped around colorfully stacked layers of a delicious ice cream cake or a life-sized rock candy apple coated in swirls of pink and purple hues.
The sculpted confectionary treats and baked goods are made in part by using cast resin, cold wax mediums, spackle, and sugar crystals. They are conceptual in their reference to beauty as consumption and their imperfectly caked tactile quality, resonates unbridled indulgence. In contrast, Butler’s drawings are delicate and precise with a hint of whimsy, but most importantly, they stand on their own, offering a glimpse into the artist’s range and deft of hand.
“Providing both two and three-dimensional art using the same subject matter will allow students to see the complex process artists move through to realize their vision or stumble across happy accidents,” said Carmen Champion, gallery curator.
The artist will take over the black box gallery, a separate 154 sq. ft. alcove to install a sugar-encrusted apple bucket resting on a rhinestone bejeweled plinth. Peering inside, visitors will be enticed by a grouping of shiny crystallized candy apples. As the weeks progress, the bounty of fruit slowly loses its glossy sheen while the sugar turns cloudy and formless, a sign of the ephemeral nature of beauty.
Exhibition:
Celia Butler: Apples to Apples
Wednesday, Aug. 28 – Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024
Artist Talk:
Wednesday, Aug. 28 at 12 p.m.
Admission:
Free and open to the public
Location:
San Jacinto College Central Campus Art Gallery
8060 Spencer Highway
Pasadena, Texas 77505
C21.163
Contact:
Carmen Champion, director/curator
832-279-6229
