Elder Gallery
presents

Carl Blair, Solo Exhibition

January 5 through 31, 2007

Elder Gallery presents its second solo exhibition for nationally recognized artist Carl Blair. The exhibition of approximately thirty paintings celebrate the immense talent of one of the Southeast’s most highly recognized and influential painters.

Of his work Blair states “In life it is prudent to think first and act afterward. In art I act first and think afterwards, gaining spontaneity and freshness along with unexpected accidents that happen that I can take advantage of in composition and color. No part is sacred and I feel free to paint out or change things or my direction at any time. The whole is more important than the parts.”

A native of Kansas, Blair has spent the majority of his adult painting career in the upstate area of South Carolina. He retired from the faculty of Bob Jones University in

1998 after forty-one years. He has served on the Greenville County Museum of Art faculty for twenty-five years and was appointed to the South Carolina Arts Commission in 1987 by Governor Carroll Campbell and reappointed by Governor David Beasley in 1993. He served as chairman from 1994 until 1996.

In September of 2001 Blair was given the distinction of the first living South Carolina artist to be honored with a one-man show at the Columbia Museum of Art. In addition, he has shown in more than one hundred museums, galleries and universities in group exhibitions. His work hangs in some 2500 permanent private, corporate and public collections to include IBM, Spaulding Corporation, BASF Corporation, National Gypsum Company, McDonalds International, Hyatt Hotels, Price Waterhouse Coopers and Tuskeegee Institute.

Governor Mark Sanford in 2005 presented Blair with the prestigious Elizabeth O’Neil Verner Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Blair’s work has been published in many national publications to include The Fine Art Index, A compendium of Contemporary Art and Artists 1993, American Artists, New York Art Review, The Art Gallery Magazine 1974 and La Revue Moderne, Paris France 1963, 1968.

“It is an honor for Elder Gallery to host such an influential and talented artist as Carl Blair,” says Larry Elder. “I have been fortunate to represent Carl through my gallery and even more blessed to have had him as a friend for over twenty years.”

Elder Gallery’s exhibition will run through January 30, 2007.