After over three decades of support for and appreciation of Columbia’s Koger Center for the Arts, local artist Quincy Pugh will show several of his pieces in the Koger Center’s Nook gallery. The exhibit opens Thursday, March 16th, and there will be an opening ceremony starting at 6:00 p.m., including a brief speech from the artist himself at 7:00.
Pugh, who was born in Atlanta, moved to Columbia in 1988 and witnessed the opening of the Koger Center in 1989. He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Studio Art from Augusta University and his Masters of Librarianship from the University of South Carolina. He then went on to serve as the Film and Sound Librarian at the Columbia branch of the Richland Library from 1989 until his retirement in June of 2018. Since his retirement he has had much more opportunity to paint and has used this time to focus on developing an extensive body of work that focuses on reflecting his community and southern heritage.
When asked about the opportunity to present his work at the Nook gallery, Pugh says, “I've attended many special cultural events at the Koger Center since my arrival in Columbia. Although most of my visits have been for musical events, I've always been in awe of its modern architecture and the large-scale non-representational artwork in the atrium, which I assume is part of its permanent collection. Art in its various forms can uplift us and evoke our emotions. I am happy that the center has begun to have more opportunities for visual artists. I am particularly thrilled and honored to have my work in this space. Although the Nook is a small space, I've selected pieces that fit well with the expansiveness of the architecture and the artwork that is already present. The work selected also works well as a collective unit. Although the work I selected for the show is figurative, I think it will fit well in the space and relates to all humanity.”
It’s unsurprising to hear that Pugh is thinking of how this exhibition will work as a collective unit, as great meaning and value can be taken from how his pieces interact with each other in the work he has done thus far. This is demonstrated within specific series Pugh has created, such as his Mugshot Series, which depicts artistic renditions of the mugshots of various Civil Rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., and Black Americans wrongfully convicted, including George Stinney, the youngest person to ever be sentenced with the death penalty and executed by the State– Stinney was just fourteen at the time and falsely charged with the murder of two white girls.
The subjects of these portraits feed off of each other, creating a dichotomous recognition of systemic violence and hopeful resistance of said violence. The inherent interconnection between this dichotomy is perhaps best represented through the portraits of Stinney and King, entitled The Exoneration of George Stinney, Jr. and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. respectively. Stinney’s portrait includes both a side mugshot and a forward facing mugshot, both of which depict the subject’s despondency in his posture and facial expression. In the former, Stinney wears a crown of thorns, evoking themes of crucifixion; in the latter, Stinney’s head is surrounded by a gold halo with orange cracks in certain places, signifying persecution. In King’s portrait, the subject is also depicted with a halo, deep blue with golden light radiating out from it, signifying hope for an impending deliverance.
This cohesion is also notable when looking at Pugh’s work as a whole: between his various depictions of protestors, veterans, advocates, and Southern Black Americans simply and joyously living their everyday lives, Pugh effectively portrays the complexity of the Southern Black experience and its spirit of strength and elation. His body of work captures a rich variety of lives and experiences as well as deep cultural ties, and how these themes work with each other.
With regards to his future artistic endeavors, Pugh says, “I think it's part of my mission to continue working in the same vein. I will continue to tell my story, our story, in all its complexity via art and maybe one day related text. Many of the pieces that I've done in the last five years have not been shown individually or collectively in an exhibition. I am ready and prepared, and hope to make that happen soon.”