LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 11, 2009) − The next artist presented as part of the Little/Gaines Artist Series is visual artist and University of Kentucky alumna Aimee Lynne-Hirschowitz. The series brings together the Little/Gaines Artist and other artists they have chosen to stage unique collaborative events around a unifying theme in visual, literary, musical or dramatic arts. Lynne-Hirschowitz and her collaborators will present "I WANT TO PLEASE YOU" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, at the Niles Gallery, located in the Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library and Learning Center. This event is free and open to the public.
"I WANT TO PLEASE YOU" is a collaborative show featuring works by three Lexington artists, Lynne-Hirschowitz, James Shambhu and Andrea Sims.
"The show's title was the jumping off point for the works included in the show," says Lynne-Hirschowitz, the Little/Gaines Series Artist for the month of November. "I was really honored to be asked to put together an exhibit of some sort for the Series, and chose James and Andrea because I've always admired their work and never gotten a chance to work with them in an art context. We've all collaborated on events and graphic designs together for other purposes, but never shown (fine art) together. We came up with the idea that we would make work based off a concept, and 'I WANT TO PLEASE YOU' was a phrase that was really meaningful---but very, very different---to all of us, so we left it at that. Besides three works we all know will be the same size, the generative words, and the fact that the works are two-dimensional, I know nothing about what they've made; I'm really excited to see what they did and can't wait to put it all together."
As part of "I WANT TO PLEASE YOU," the three will also give a short Artist's Talk at the Nov. 17 event. The artists' work, hung in the upstairs gallery of the Little Library, will remain on view through December.
Lynne-Hirschowitz, who holds a bachelor's degree in art from UK and a master's degree in visual studies from the Art Institute of Boston, is a former Gaines Fellow and a Leopold Schepp Scholar. Before her move to Kentucky in 1998, she worked as an assistant to several well-known veterans of New York's fashion and design world.
When asked about her influences and inspirations, Lynne-Hirschowitz says there are too many to name and that her varied bodies of work are the results of her experiences and exposures.
"I'm grateful for art," says Lynne-Hirschowitz. "I'm interested in so many things but can never predict what I will find fascinating. Art is the only thing constantly willing to explain the world to me little by little, no matter what."
Shambhu, who holds two bachelor's degrees in art from UK, is an artist living and working in Lexington. He has had solo exhibitions at several galleries in the Bluegrass including shows at New Editions Gallery, Ivos Gallery and Gallerie Soleil. Shambhu was voted one of the best new local artists by Ace Weekly in 2006 and one of the Best Visual Artists in 2009. He is represented in Kentucky by the Ann Tower Gallery.
Sims lives and works in Lexington. She holds the French title "Master Painter" from her studies in France, and has lived and worked in New York, France, Italy and beyond. Never one to turn away from a challenge, she has painted grand scale interior frescoes using realism, built-in living room cabinets using faux finishes, and topographical surveys of landscapes using abstraction. Sims gives great attention to color and materials, and is inspired by the vast subjective interplay between beauty, illusion and form.
Lynne-Hirschowitz's show is the third from the new series' sponsors, Little Fine Arts Library and the Gaines Center for the Humanities, who launched the collaborative artists' series showcasing the work of Kentucky artists and bringing together artists in the same or different genres or media in September.
One more exhibition remains for the 2009 Little/Gaines Artists Series. All series programs, which last approximately an hour and a half and are followed by a reception, are staged on Tuesdays in the Niles Gallery of the Little Fine Arts Library. Installation and performance artist Lauren Argo will follow Lynne-Hirschowitz on Dec. 15.
For more information on the Little/Gaines Artist Series or on the Aimee Lynne-Hirschowitz show, contact Gail Kennedy, director of the Little Fine Arts Library, at (859) 257-4631, or Lisa Broome-Price, associate director of the Gaines Center, at (859) 257-1537.
