Biography

John Folsom - Artists - Pryor Fine Art

Artist Statement

My practice is concerned with constructing the ideal landscape, a representation
of land that is both alluring and fictional. These environments have been termed
“post-sublime” having both a sense of glory and irony. The panels function as giant
billboards heralding a far away destination encouraging viewers to explore the natural
world Sometimes the area photographed is relatively pristine and other times is under
threat from onset erosion due to man made development. Viewers with a sense of
yearning and romanticism move the images beyond their specific geography to a place
born of personal memory. This has happened on a few occasions where an image taken
at a certain place is moved by the mind of the viewer to someplace closer to home. By
this measure these images do not exist in the real world but are dependant upon the
viewers’ definition to achieve their sense of place.

PROCESS

The process involved with creating John’s work is multi-tiered. He first travels
and documents the landscape with his digital camera and works with the image utilizing
photographic software. After this step the image is broken into the grid and each tile is
printed individually using the Epson Stylus 4800. The image is then assembled like a
giant jigsaw puzzle and adhered to a wooden support. He then paints on the surface of
the photographic paper using traditional oils and seals the piece with wax medium.

Videos

CV

2022 Pryor Fine Art, Lake Swimming, Atlanta Georgia
2021 Hidell Brooks, Depth Charge, Charlotte, North Carolina
2019 Mason-Scharfenstein Museum of Art, The Vanishing, Demorest, Georgia Hidell Brooks Gallery, Recent Works, Charlotte, North Carolina
2018 Hathaway Contemporary, The Vanishing, Atlanta, Georgia
2017 Hidell Brooks, Recent Works, Charlotte, North Carolina
2016 Hathaway Contemporary, Framework and View, Atlanta, Georgia Callan Contemporary, Coastal Cartography, New Orleans, Louisiana
2015 Pryor Fine Art, New Works, Atlanta, Georgia  
2014 New Zones Gallery, Diminishing Returns, Calgary, Canada
Tinney Contemporary, Sea Change, Nashville, Tennessee
2013 Callan Contemporary, Creeper Lagoon, New Orleans, Louisiana Pryor Fine Art, Creeper Lagoon, Atlanta, Georgia
2012 Tinney Contemporary, Anodyne Frontiers, Nashville, Tennessee Blue Gallery, How To Disappear Completely, Kansas City, Missouri  
2011 Marietta Cobb Museum of Art – Summering At The End of Empire, Marietta, Georgia Vanderbilt University – Lure of the Low Country, Sarratt Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee
2010 Gibbes Museum of Art – Lure of the Low Country, Charleston, South Carolina Zeitgeist Gallery – A Year Without A Summer : 1816, Nashville, Tennessee
New Zones Gallery – solo exhibition, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
2009 Lanoue Fine Art - solo exhibition. Boston, Massachusetts
2008 New Zones Gallery – Souvenirs , Calgary, Canada
 Fay Gold Gallery – Lure of the Low Country, Atlanta, Georgia
2007 Lanoue Fine Art – solo exhibition, Boston, Massachusetts
 Zeitgeist Gallery – solo exhibition, Nashville, Tennessee
2006 Fay Gold Gallery – solo exhibition, Atlanta, Georgia
 Blue Gallery – solo exhibition, Kansas City, Missouri
2005 New Zones Gallery – solo exhibition, Calgary, Canada
 Cumberland Gallery – solo exhibition, Nashville, Tennessee
2004 Fay Gold Gallery – solo exhibition, Atlanta, Georgia
2003 Volunteer State College – solo exhibition, Gallatin, Tennessee   
2002 Blue Gallery – solo exhibition, Kansas City, Missouri
 The Lowe Gallery – solo exhibition, Atlanta, Georgia
1999 Yeiser Art Center – solo exhibition, Paducah, Kentucky
1995 Cheekwood Museum of Fine Art – Two Beauties, solo exhibition, Nashville, Tennessee
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 Telfair Museums, Complex Uncertainties:Artists in Postwar America, Savannah, Georgia
2019 Foley Gallery, Truth Lies Beyond, New York, New York
The Bascom Center for Art, Rhythm Systems, Highlands, North Carolina
2015 Mobile Museum of Art, The New Landscape, Mobile, Alabama
David Lusk Gallery, Mash-Up; Artists Do Cardboard, Nashville, Tennessee  
2010 U.S. Ambassador to Africa. Art in Embassies Exhibition, African Union, Ethiopia 2006 Museum Works Gallery – “Defining Nature”, group exhibition, Los Angeles, California 2003 The Etherton Gallery – Invitational, Tucson, Arizona
2001 Side by Side – Juried Invitational, Belfast, Northern Ireland
RESIDENCIES/ GRANTS
2014 The Banff Centre – Artist in Residence, Banff, Alberta, Canada
2012 Hambidge Center – Creative Residency Program, Rabun Gap, Georgia 2012 Fulton County Arts Council – Scholarship Award, Atlanta, Georgia 2001 Christoph Merian Foundation – Artist in Residence, Weil Am Rhein, Germany 1997 Christoph Merian Foundation – Artist in Residence, Arlesheim, Switzerland 1996 Tennessee Arts Commission - Individual Artist Fellowship, Nashville, Tennessee 1995 Metro Arts Commission – Studio Grant Recipient, Nashville, Tennessee  
RELATED EXPERIENCE
2015 Fine Arts Atelier – Director Michael David
Continuing research and study related to materials and new media. San Francisco International Art Exposition – San Francisco, California

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