FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2016
Contacts: Vicki Scharfberg
Director of Marketing and PR
912.790.8890
[email protected]
#art912: an exhibition with Savannah artists Betsy Cain, Marcus
Kenney, Cedric Smith
Savannah-based artists’ show their distinctive points-of-view in the special setting of the
National Arts Club
SEPTEMBER 19 – Savannah, GA –Telfair Museums announces an exhibition with Savannah-based artists
Betsy Cain, Marcus Kenney and Cedric Smith on view from October 18-28 at The National Arts Club in
Manhattan, a National Historic Landmark. Savannah-based entrepreneur (and transplanted New Yorker)
Johno Morisano, a National Arts Club board member, created the show to raise awareness of
Savannah’s thriving art community on a national scale.
“Telfair Museums is delighted to be able to present this exhibition in New York to highlight the
incredible richness of Savannah’s contemporary arts scene through the work of three diverse artists,”
said Lisa Grove, Director/CEO of Telfair Museums. “This project is part of our strategy to elevate the
national profile of our curatorial program through special projects and new commissions that connect
our institution’s unique history and location in the Deep South to critical themes and discussions in
America today.”
The exhibition will present recent works by three artists who call Savannah home, creating
conversations around representations of place with an emphasis on Savannah and the American South.
Cain, Kenney, and Smith’s works demonstrate how artists from one region can express a wide range of
perspectives, and the complexity of Southern artists overall.
“Ever since I moved to Savannah, I’ve developed a deep appreciation of the exciting and dynamic local
art scene,” said Johno Morisano, owner of The Grey in Savannah, Georgia. “These three artists offer a
great example of the quality of work being made in Savannah today. I am honored to present their work
to New Yorkers through this partnership with Telfair Museums.”
#art912 is a new Telfair Museums initiative dedicated to raising the visibility and promoting the vitality
of artists living and working in Savannah through exhibition opportunities, public programs, and
outreach. This exhibition in New York is made possible with support from Visit Savannah and the
Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA).
#art912: Betsy Cain, Marcus Kenney, and Cedric Smith will be on view October 18-28, 2016 at The
National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, New York, NY 10003. The galleries of The National Arts Club
are open to the public Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Admission is free.
About the Artists
Betsy Cain
Betsy Cain’s gestural
abstractions—painted, cutout, and shredded—reference
both the internal and external
landscapes she navigates and
slips between. Cain has stated
that “abstraction is the
language of the body—the
interior. It may be the
language of internal space.” For Cain, the ecosystems of Georgia’s coast—
including the rivers, tidal estuaries, vast salt marsh, maritime forest and
barrier islands—have a palpable imprint on her work by offering endless
space to mine as an artist. New and recent works on view demonstrate
both her mature artistic facility and penchant towards experimentation in
mark-making.
Betsy Cain (American, b. 1949), salt marsh
buddha, 2014, oil on board, cutout, 48 x 48
inches. Courtesy the artist and Laney
Contemporary, Savannah, GA © Betsy Cain
Cain (American, b. 1949) was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on the University of Alabama campus. She
received both her BFA and MFA degrees from The University of Alabama, and did formative
undergraduate work at Auburn University and Instituto Allende, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Cain
has shown her work at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia in Atlanta, GA; Telfair Museums in
Savannah, GA; Florida Mining in Jacksonville, FL; I. P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium, South Carolina
State University; The Circle Gallery, College of Environment and Design, University of Georgia, Athens,
GA; Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA; Robert Steele Gallery, New York; Sandler Hudson
Gallery, Atlanta; among many others. Her work has been published and reviewed in New American
Paintings, Art Papers, & Atlanta Journal Constitution, among others. More at www.betsycain.com
Marcus Kenney
Marcus Kenney’s large-scale
narrative works present a
tumultuous clash and conflation
of imagery and symbolism
reflecting America’s melting pot
of culture, considering issues
including consumerism,
environmentalism, religion,
mortality, identity, race relations
and authority. Kenney’s self-created and ambiguous character ASA NISI
MASA, whose name references the nonsensical phrase in Fellini’s iconic film
8 ½, can be interpreted as a hooded figure, an oversized and animated
pilgrim’s hat, or a statement on the oversimplification of racial stereotyping.
Through a voracious mixing of symbols, materials and styles, Kenney is a
Southern storyteller whose work addresses how images represent and push
back at identities formed via association and authorship.
-more-
Marcus Kenney (American, b. 1972), GDUB,
2016, collage, marble dust, graphite, oil on
canvas, 84 x 60 inches. Courtesy and
© Marcus Kenney
Kenney (American, b. 1972) was born and raised in rural Louisiana and lives and works in Savannah,
Georgia. Kenney holds an MFA in photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He
works in many mediums including sculpture, painting and photography. Kenney has exhibited in
museums, institutions, galleries and art fairs internationally, including Tel Aviv, Paris, London, Montréal,
New York, Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Miami and Portland. His work has been
featured and reviewed in Art in America, New American Paintings, Art Papers, New York Times, Boston
Globe, ArtVoices, Atlanta Journal Constitution, New York Art Magazine, and Art News. More at
www.marcuskenney.com
Cedric Smith
Cedric Smith is a self-taught artist
who draws on a wide range of
influences and sources, including
landscape art, pop art, brand
advertising and photography to
express his poignant observations
of life in the rural south. Much of
his current work is devoted to
redressing an observation that
dogged him as a child: the absence of Blacks in advertising and on
the labels of popular brands. Smith works to insert his own African
American narrative into a marginalized and commercialized space,
and, by doing so, reclaims some power through representation.
Cedric Smith (American, b. 1970)
Top: Oysters, 2016, mixed media on canvas, 36 x 48 inches
Bottom: Peas, 2016, mixed media on canvas, 48 x 36 inches
Both courtesy and © Cedric Smith
Smith (American, b. 1970) was born in Philadelphia and raised in
Thomaston, Georgia, where he moved with his family when he was a young boy. He currently resides in
Savannah, GA. Smith has had a number of solo exhibitions since 1998. They include Barbara Archer
Gallery, Atlanta, GA; Beverly Libby Gallery, Atlanta, GA; Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA; Thelma Harris
Gallery, Oakland, CA; Noel Gallery, Charlotte, NC, and AT&T, Atlanta, GA; Dillon Gallery, Miami. His work
has also been shown in numerous group exhibitions. Public collections in which his work can be found
include The Francis Walker Museum in Thomaston, GA; Tubman Museum in Macon, GA, and Morris
Brown College, Atlanta, GA. The artist and his work have been the subject of several articles, reviews
and television programs. More at www.cedricsmithphotography.com
Support provided by Visit Savannah and the Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA).
About Telfair Museums: Opened in 1886, Telfair Museums is the oldest public art museum in the South and features a
world-class art collection in the heart of Savannah’s National Historic Landmark District. The museum encompasses three
sites: the Jepson Center for the Arts, the Owens-Thomas House, and the Telfair Academy. For more information, call 912790-8800 or visit www.telfair.org.
About The Grey: In January 2015 The Grey opened in a landmarked 1938 Greyhound bus terminal in Savannah, Georgia.
Owner Johno Morisano and chef/partner Mashama Bailey have since become a part of Savannah’s cultural renaissance,
providing warm hospitality and modern Southern cuisine served to a diverse crowd that represents the new South.
Mashama’s modern Southern cuisine has helped earn the restaurant a number of accolades in its first year, including
being named one of Food & Wine’s "Restaurants of The Year,” Esquire's “Best New Restaurants in America,” Bon
Appetit’s "50 Best New Restaurants in America" and Eater’s "21 Best New Restaurants in America." The thoughtful
restoration of the space by Parts and Labor Design earned The Grey a James Beard Foundation "Best Restaurant Design"
nomination.
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