Douglas Weathersby
 
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / April 1, 2011 
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES BY DOUGLAS WEATHERSBY
Paint Shed Showcase
April 30 - June 11, 2011
Installing / Performing April 27 - 29, 2011 / 10 AM - 6 PM
Opening Saturday, April 30, 2011 / 6 - 8 PM

Environmental Services returns to Solomon Projects this month!
Solomon Projects is pleased to announce the highly anticipated solo exhibition of Boston-based Douglas Weathersby entitled Paint Shed Showcase. The exhibition presents a reworking of his conceptual art/paint abatement project, ES Paint Shed, presented by Flux Projects in Atlanta during September 2010. Paint Shed Showcase will transform the gallery space into an ambitious installation of wall mural, vinyl graphics, photographic logs, sculpture, acrylic on canvas drop cloth paintings, and performance by the artist.  The exhibition will be on view April 30th through June 11th.  An opening with the artist will take place Saturday, April 30th from 6 - 8 PM.


Douglas Weathersby owns and operates Environmental Services (ES), his cleaning, repair and handyman company that encompasses both his livelihood and art practice.  ES harkens back to the groundbreaking "social sculpture" of Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Joseph Beuys in the way it challenges the traditional boundaries of the artist's role and methods of production. Yet, his bold aesthetics, humor and entrepreneurial spirit are all á propos our contemporary artistic climate.  After receiving a master's degree in painting, he was intent on creating an artistic practice that existed outside the traditional painter's studio.  By cleverly crossing the threshold between art and life, Weathersby presents new perspectives on art.  "Friend" him on Facebook and you will receive his daily photographic logto your home page. The ES Logs present a photographic journal and musings on work and life by layering a descriptive text and the artist's daily "to do" list with a chosen photograph for each given day.  The exhibition will premiere a selection of the Logs created last fall during the ES Paint Shed.  


A bit about the artist's working method: Weathersby closely collaborates with the art patron, client, gallery or museum to determine the site and scope of the work to be performed: the "project."  The project then becomes the inspiration for his response to his experience of working in that site.  Weathersby records the process via photography, video, painting and sculptural installation, which become aesthetic documentation or "products" that are exhibited.  The artist's holistic approach reveals his personal philosophy of artmaking; Weathersby considers all aspects of ES - from the collaboration with the client, to the working process and the resultant photography, logs, paintings, videos - as art.  Furthermore, ES requires the active participation of the collaborator (art patron, gallery visitor, etc.) to participate in the creative process.  A recent addition to Weathersby's practice is the Environmental Services van.  Wrapped in vinyl promotional graphics and photography, the van functions as a mobile gallery, billboard and sculpture curated by the artist.


Weathersby's work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums in New York, Boston and Atlanta with recent museum projects including Inversiones at The Museum of Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia (2010), The Masur Museum, Monore, LA (2009) and Babson College, Wellesley, MA (2008). In Fall 2010 Weathersby was honored with a grant from Flux Projects to create a public installment ES Paint Shed over the course of two weeks in midtown Atlanta.  He was awarded the prestigious ICA Boston Artist Prize 2003 in recognition of his artistic achievement. Weathersby's work has been reviewed in notable journals such as Tema Celeste, Artpapers, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Boston Globe and ArtLies. His work may be found in numerous private and public art collections including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.  The artist holds a MFA from Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA and BFA from the Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, GA.  Weathersby lives and works in Boston, MA. 


For more information or to inquire about hiring Environmental Services for your specific project, please contact us at 404.875.7100 or info@solomonprojects.com.  Additional information, bio and images may be obtained by linking to our website www.solomonprojects.com

 
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