LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University will present Stories to Tell: The Work of Winfred Rembert from Sept. 8 through Oct. 13 in Morlan Gallery.
Rembert is known for colorful paintings on leather sheets that depict life in the rural, pre-Civil Rights South. He will visit the gallery on Sept. 8 for an opening reception along with Vivian Ducat, who directed an award-winning documentary about him.
“Rembert paints stories that look back to his youth in the days of segregation,” according to Adelson Galleries, which loaned the artworks to Morlan Gallery. “Despite the often grim working conditions he encountered (not to mention a near-lynching and years spent on a prison chain gang), Rembert’s works focus on the joyous aspects of black life in the 1950s South—the strong family and community bonds, the cultural vibrancy and the many colorful characters that lifted the spirits of those who had little choice but to labor in the region’s cotton and peanut fields.”
The Adelson Gallery describes the Cuthbert, Ga., painter’s works as “marked by tactile surfaces, saturated colors, and lively, rhythmic patterning.” Rembert has been compared to acclaimed African-American artists such as Hale Woodruff, Jacob Lawrence, Horace Pippin and Romare Bearden. “Rembert, who is self-taught, lives and works in New Haven, Conn. His paintings are represented in a number of important public and private collections, and were the subject of a major exhibition at the Yale University Art Gallery in 2000.”
Morlan’s Rembert exhibition will be shown in the side gallery and will run concurrently with Senses of Places: VR, an exhibition of two virtual reality artworks in the main gallery.
Along with Morlan Gallery, Transylvania’s Creative Intelligence Series will sponsor the visit by Rembert and Ducat.
Special Events and Hours
– A free screening of the documentary, “All Me: The Life and Times of Winfred Rembert,” and a Q&A with director Vivian Ducat and Rembert will be Thursday, Sept. 7, 6 p.m., at the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center.
– An Opening Reception with Rembert and Ducat will be Friday, Sept. 8, 6-8 p.m., at Morlan Gallery. A DVD of the film will be available for purchase by cash or check the night of the opening. Earlier that day, Rembert and Ducat will visit students at Lexington’s STEAM Academy.
– The Lexington Gallery Hop, which includes Morlan, will be Friday, Sept. 15, 5-8 p.m.