“Steve Banks: Construct/Destruct" at the Bereskin Gallery & Art Academy -- through April 30.
Through Friday, April 30
Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy, 2967 State Street, Bettendorf IA
The latest exhibition by a noted area sculptor and multi-media artist, Steve Banks: Construct/Destruct will be on display at the Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy through April 30, with Banks' fascinating artistic themes and subjects including ruined temples, Ionic columns, fragments of architecture, and more.
Describing his latest exhibition on the Bereskin Gallery & Art Academy Web site, Banks states, “Seeing the weathered walls of Rome and walking through the ruins of Pæstüm had a profound impact on me. The hints at what had been, what had been lost, and what had been repurposed, would serve as one of the major inspirations for my artwork for the next 25 years. Ruined temples, Ionic columns, maps, fragments of architecture, parking lots, and abandoned roadside signs thematically weave in and out of my pieces – for there is a similar beauty and melancholy to be found in both the old bones of a Greek temple and the carcass of an abandoned truck stop. Much like adjusting the sound levels on a car stereo, I have turned the knob all the way to the right for Construct/Destruct to emphasize the architectural underpinnings found in my artwork.”
Holding a 1995 BFA from Northwest Missouri State University and 1997 MFA from Florida State University, Banks is well-known for his extravagant mixed-media painted constructions – works created primarily on canvas that utilize oil paint, cardboard, fabric, and carved wood. As Banks explains in his Artist Statement at SteveBanksArt.wixsite.com: “My artwork is about finding meaningful identity and individuality within popular culture. I strive to make energetic images that explore our relationships and interactions with what is precious, beautiful, necessary, serious, sensual, and nonsensical through juxtapositions of disparate materials, clashing iconography, pungent color schemes, contrasting textures, scale, and simplicity versus clutter.”
“My image-making process,” Banks continues, “is fueled by curiosity regarding the process of partial cultural assimilation. These studio works are rooted in the quest for the individual within an apathetic culture of homogeneity and pre-packaged identity. This search for individuality often turns into commentaries about how we miraculously form meaningful interpersonal connections and relationships, while our souls seem to bob haplessly on an isolating sea of cultural white noise.”
Regular gallery hours are Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the gallery also open by appointment. For more information on theSteve Banks: Construct/Destruct exhibition on display through April 30, call (563)508-4630 and visit BereskinArtGallery.com.
