Last summer, Cleveland-based painter John W. Carlson took several trips down south to the Mississippi Delta, the birthplace of American blues. It was his way of finding some solace over the drug overdose death of his son.
“It was through blues music that I was able to grieve the death of my son,” says Carlson. “I was given permission to moan and weep but also to embrace this burden, and finally lay it down.”
It also produced the series of paintings that make up his latest show, Blues, in which Carlson looks at the connection of blues music to adversity, and its role in helping its practitioners cope with their hardscrabble lives. His impressionistic style incorporates oil stick drawings, impasto paint layers and collaged found objects.
Blues opened at HEDGE Gallery at 78th Street Studios on Friday February 1 and was scheduled to run through Friday April 3. Shortly after a well-attended artist talk Thursday March 5, which featured a gospel performance led by retired Oberlin-based choir director Jessie Reeder, who also talked about her background, and an acoustic blues performance by Carlson and Kerry Davis of the Cleveland Print Room, the gallery was shut down and 78th Street Studios’ March Third Friday was cancelled.
The good news is that you can see clips from Carlson’s artist talk, his performance with Davis, and an artist talk by photographer Shari Wilson, whose miniature photos of abandoned homes in Cairo, Illinois, are also included in the show.
hedgeartgallery.com/exhibitions