Thu 4/9-Sun 5/24
The Cleveland Orchestra will once again, for the fourth year, present its annual Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival, from May 15-24. And for the third year, the festival will be accompanied by an art show in the Grand Foyer at Severance Music Center that reflects the year’s theme.
This year the theme is “Courage,” and the show, called It Takes Courage to Love All Unconditionally, goes on view Thursday April 9.
It features the Basquiat-inspired work of 45-year-old painter Halim Flowers, who at the age of 16 was sentenced to two life terms in prison for a murder committed by an accomplice. He was released after 20 years, and went on to become a visual artist, writer and activist for justice.
“This festival celebrates courage, reflecting the personal journey I’ve been on for quite some time,” says Flowers in the Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival press release. “Many choices I made in my childhood led to consequences that were not a result of my being a ‘bad kid,’ but rather due to my inability to overcome negative peer influences and community pressures. This body of work represents an extension of my identity and self-worth. I had to learn to love myself, even when society labeled me as a menace and treated me accordingly. The colors in the pieces I created for this exhibition emerged organically; they chose me. I usually don’t work with earth tones or neutrals, but this time, the mediums — my tools of mass construction — were paintbrushes, oil sticks, canvas, and fashion. The colors arrived uniquely and unexpectedly.”
The show will be on view during all Cleveland Orchestra performances, and during two free public open houses: Sunday May 10 @ 1:30-3pm and Saturday May 16 @ 11am-1pm.
Get more information here.