Review of Wayne Amedee in The New Orleans Advocate
Octavia Art Gallery is pleased to announce our second solo exhibition of gallery artist Wayne Amedee. The exhibition will feature three distinct series of the artist’s work entitled, Consolation, Selvedge/Microcosm, and the emotionally and visually arresting Chrysalis. All three series refer to a rich inner life that Amedee expresses through visual art.
The Consolation series is a continuation of a monumental work that Amedee created in 2013. For these sculptures, which are executed in bronze, aluminum and cedar in both totemic and intimate scales, Amedee utilizes his signature wedge forms as components for his stacked or lean-to compositions. The results feel architectonic and precarious. The stacking of similar but contrasting parts, each form slightly varied in hue and size, but expertly arranged, give the works an illusion of motion and balance.
Selvedge/Microcosm is a collection of three digitally captured and reproduced mono-prints of the paint remnants in Amedee’s studio where he creates his two-dimensional work. Amedee says of the series, “Whatever is left behind in my studio has a specific visual interest to me and these are a sort of microcosm of remains or rough ends — like selvedges that are utilized or even tracks on the moon from lunar rovers. They nod to something else happening outside of that area of focus that has already passed.”
Working with found materials and engaging with the elements of the every day, the Chrysalis mixed-media works on paper are contemplative and striking. They exude a sense of tranquility and gracefulness in their restrained composition; yet command attention and closer examination. Although personal in origin, these works explore a universal notion of memory, the passage of time and the ephemeral nature of life.
With a career spanning four decades, Wayne Amedee has seen his artwork succeed both locally in the city of New Orleans and nationally. Over the years, he has shown in New Orleans, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. He has also earned numerous awards, including a Rockefeller Grant, New Orleans Museum of Art Award, and Loyola University’s Jesuit Award for “People for Others”. He is represented in NOMA’s permanent collection, has helped establish Loyola University’s sculpture garden. In 2014, Amedee was selected by the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development to receive the Artist of the Year Award at the 2014 Louisiana Culture Awards. Amedee’s most notable work to date is a large-scale sculpture at the entrance of City Park titled Grateful Labors. It was created with the help of the Trust for Public Land, as a tribute to all who helped with the recovery of the city of New Orleans post-Katrina.