Salina Art Center

January 29, 2010 — April 18, 2010

TRUE GRIT features the work of five American artists with exceptionally long and productive careers who continue to make thought-provoking work. Averaging 79 years of age, Judith K. Brodsky, Peter Campus, Warrington Colescott, Larry Edwards, and Lee Friedlander have each developed careers spanning more than fifty years that show no signs of slowing down. As inventive and courageous as ever, their artistic practices continue to project a sense of curiosity and engagement with the larger world of ideas. The exhibition is intended not only as homage, but also as inquiry. What fuels the unwavering devotion of these artists to work and career? Curators John Salvest and Les Christensen believe that such an investigation into the motivational forces driving these artists well past traditional retirement age has implications beyond the art world—an uncovering of the physical, cerebral, and spiritual capacities of the human condition. In a culture fixated on newness and youth, isn’t there still something to be learned from that which endures?

TRUE GRIT is curated by John Salvest, visual artist and independent curator, and Les Christensen, artist and director of the Bradbury Gallery at Arkansas State University. Following its showing at the Salina Art Center, TRUE GRIT will be on view at the Bradbury Gallery, Arkansas State University, June 11–September 26, 2010.