Are you looking to get your fill of great art and fantastic music back to back? Mark your calendars for September 2nd, 2022. Preceding the Purple Xperience performance at 7:30pm, The Jasper Project is proud to help present the opening night for Steven White’s new exhibition at Harbison Theatre.
When planning out which artist to feature at Harbison, particularly alongside the new season, Jasper’s own Christina Xan knew that White would be a perfect choice. “I’ve been following Steven’s work since sometime during the pandemic when Cindi [Boiter] put him on my radar,” Xan said,. “His stark images that play and imprint in the viewer’s mind I thought would be perfect for this upcoming Harbison show. In fact, when Kristin [Cobb] reached out to me about selecting an artist, Steven was the first to come to mind.”
White is often inclined to create images of cultural icons and immortalized figures. Considering how the Purple Xperience show is dedicated to celebrating the cultural impact of Prince’s legacy, the juxtaposition of the two shows makes perfect sense.
White’s latest body of work explores the presence of negative space in a work of art, and how those spaces can be manipulated into something bigger. “What draws me to a piece painted with the use of negative and positive space is the strange possibility that you will be able to see things that aren’t there,” White said, “The space in question, which is the area of shared edges, engages the viewer in an unexpected and fun way. I like the fact that it’s interactive.”
White emphasizes the mysteries and intrigue that present themselves throughout his artist statement and masterfully captures everything he aims to. White stated, “I hope that many viewers of my work will begin to see that the positive and negative can come together in many ways to bring balance to a composition.” This eye-bending technique of White’s works excellently to keep the viewer engaged with his work, looking from corner to corner for something they may have missed, causing them to want to come back for seconds.
The amount of conversation between the Prince show and the opening of White’s exhibition is truly up to the viewer themself. This particular body of work did not come to fruition specifically for the Purple Xperience opening; it just so happened that there was plenty of natural conversation to garner between the two.
“I will let other people decide if my body of work is in conversation. I consider my participation in the Purple Xperience Tribute Show to be a fortuitous event,” White said, “Sometimes a bit of luck comes your way when you put your work out there.” White emphasizes how important viewer reception and opinion are to him, and hopes that everyone who views his art leaves with new thoughts and perceptions of art to take with them.
There will be an opening ceremony for White’s show prior to the Purple Xperience performance, at 7pm on September 2nd. White’s work will be up for viewing until the end of October. More info can be found on our event page.