Nationally known Florida artists Jim Draper and Hoang Van Bui exhibit works alongside those of 14 local artists in a show presented by the Tampa Bay Earth Charter Committee.
The exhibit opens with a reception catered by Mise en Place at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8, at Matthews Art Gallery.
All of the show's artists — which include Leslie Campbell, Betsy Orb Lester, Sigrid Tidmore, Brandy Stark and Alex Torres — are present to meet and greet guests. And a portion of proceeds from gallery sales benefit the Earth Charter Committee.
The Earth Charter is a document that outlines the principles of respect and care for the community — ecological integrity, social and economic justice, democracy, nonviolence and peace — and its supporters organize events such as this exhibit and the annual Earth Charter Summit to celebrate and promote these principles.
Jim Draper and Hoang Van Bui got involved with this art show expressly because of their support for the Earth Charter.
Draper, an Everglades advocate, is showing his Healing Palms series, an ongoing body of paintings focused on palm trees. The trees are central images, saturated with color, set against stock backdrops of sand, sea and air, rendered with simplicity in vivid hues.
Draper has studied with the late Elaine de Kooning, the influential abstract expressionist painter, whose work (once overshadowed by that of her husband, the late Willem de Kooning) is now being recognized as on par with the best painters of her time.
She emphasized the "importance of assembling a body of work with serial imagery," and Draper has done so with his rather elementary takes on palm trees, water birds and portraits, isolating singular images and reproducing them to create a stirring effect in the viewer.
A Mississippi native, he's lived in Florida for 10 years and travels throughout the state, documenting what he considers remnants of an ancient and rapidly disappearing landscape. He joined the show, he says, "to help call attention to the fact that steps can, and are, being taken to protect our indigenous flora and fauna."
Hoang Van Bui, a professor of art at University of Tampa, is primarily an installation artist, but he's also known for his sculpture and mixed media. On visits to his native Vietnam, Van Bui has worked with orphans and special-needs children living in desperate conditions. His holistic philosophy of life brings a strong social perspective to his art. Understated and suggestive, his angular sculptures and narrative installations also demonstrate his talent for creating unique textures by combining such materials as bronze, tar, wax, steel, aluminum, wood, rubber, rice and denim.
The exhibit runs through Aug. 23, with two later events scheduled. At 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15, Draper will speak about his work and sign lithographs and prints, and Van Bui will offer a slide presentation titled "The Spaces Between People." A closing reception featuring spoken word performances will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 22. These events are free and open to the public.
Matthews Gallery is located across from the University of Tampa, at 119 S. Hyde Park Ave. (813-259-0305).
For more info on the Earth Charter Community Summits, visit www.earthchartersmmits.org. To get involved in the exhibit, contact Arts Committee co-chair Tracy Copes at 813-671-4140 or tracy@daftgeneration.com.
This article appears in Aug 7-13, 2003.