In Vivid Color: Pushing the Boundaries of Perception in Contemporary Art investigates the power of color on our everyday perceptions and shared experiences

In Vivid Color: Pushing the Boundaries of Perception in Contemporary Art investigates the power of color on our everyday perceptions and shared experiences
Charlotte, NC – Colors are linked to memories, experiences, and our environments. To celebrate the world of color and its effects on our perceived realities, The Mint Museum proudly presents In Vivid Color: Pushing the Boundaries of Perception in Contemporary Art. The exhibition is on view Oct. 16 at Mint Museum Uptown and features four innovative contemporary artists—Gisela Colon, Spencer Finch, Jennifer Steinkamp, and Summer Wheat. Installations in the exhibition are experiential by design, allowing each viewer to feel and engage with the works of art based on individual perceptions of color.
“We are so pleased to be able to share these powerful, engaging works of art with our visitors,” says Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, senior curator of American art at The Mint Museum. “Not only do they demonstrate the wide range of innovative ways in which artists use color, but they also inspire us to reflect upon the many ways in which color infiltrates our memories, functions symbolically in our everyday lives, creates shared experiences, and sparks conversations and connections.”

Visitors are first greeted by Summer Wheat’s monumental installation Foragers in the Robert Haywood Morrison atrium. The four story, 3,720-square-foot installation fills 96 window panels with vibrant hand-cut layered vinyl gel panels that combine to tell the story of women as makers and providers. The presentation bathes the space in jewel-tone colors and hues that shift with natural light, enveloping the visitor. Foragers was commissioned for the Mint and generously funded by Wells Fargo Foundation Women Artists Fund.
Located on Level 3 in the Gorelick Gallery, immersive installations Daisy Bell and Orbit 12 by pioneering digital artist Jennifer Steinkamp explore the symbolic power of color through video technology. Using repeated floral patterns and hyper-saturated colors, Daisy Bell, which is part of Bank of America’s corporate art collection, challenges viewers to rethink their relationship with the natural world. Orbit 12, a gift to the museum from the Mint Museum Auxiliary, guides viewers through four seasons in which leaves, branches, and blossoms constantly morph through cycles of growth, abundance, decay, and renewal.

At nearly 40-feet wide, Spencer Finch’s Sunset (South Texas, 6/21/03), also on loan from Bank of America, recreates a sunset on the Texas plains with green, pink, blue, yellow and orange filters fitted over fluorescent lamps. The horizontal stretch of the piece mimics the vastness of the plains and allows viewers to settle into the distance of space and color. Gisela Colon’s Hyper Ellipsoid pushes the boundaries of materials and sculptural form. Her objects, self-described as organic minimalism, use suspended pigments in acrylic to create forms that seem to shape-shift with light and motion.
The exhibition also includes 11 paintings and works on paper by artists Jennifer Bartlett, Annette Cone-Skelton, Peter Halley, Juan Logan, Harvey Quaytman, T.J. Reddy, Brian Rutenberg, Julian Stanczak, and Donald Sultan from the Mint’s permanent collection. In addition, local artist Juan Logan has loaned a painting from his Elegy series. Visitors can also play with color and light in the color shadow experience just inside the gallery.
In Vivid Color is presented by Wells Fargo Private Bank, with additional support from the Mint Museum Auxiliary, Bank of America Collection, and the GAVLAK Gallery. In Vivid Color also benefits from a media partnership with Peachy the Magazine.
About The Mint Museum
Established in 1936 as North Carolina’s first art museum, The Mint Museum is a leading, innovative cultural institution and museum of international art and design. With two locations—Mint Museum Randolph in the heart of Eastover and Mint Museum Uptown at Levine Center for the Arts on South Tryon Street—the Mint boasts one of the largest collections in the Southeast and is committed to engaging and inspiring members of the global community.
Contact: Michele Huggins, Communications and Media Relations Project Manager michele.huggins@mintmuseum.org, 704.564.0826
Mint Museum Auxilary: Fall EnrichMINT Forum with Bobbi Brown.
Join us in honoring Bobbi Brown, a makeup artist, entrepreneur, author, and a self-made millionaire. Read More
Mint Museum Auxiliary: CommenceMINT
This widely popular cocktail buffet will be hosted in a stunning private residence and is offered exclusively to Sponsors, Benefactors and Patrons. Read More
Mint Museum Auxiliary: Trina Turk Grand Opening
Join the Mint Museum Auxiliary at a grand opening event for the new Trina Turk Boutique at SouthPark Mall, 4400 Sharon Road. Enjoy light bites and fall fashions, and a portion of proceeds from the event benefit the Mint.
Mint Museum Auxiliary: Cathy Graham
The Mint Museum Auxiliary invites you to hear the acclaimed artist and author Cathy Graham speak on her success as an entrepreneur and innovator. Read More
Fall Enrichmint forum with William Ivey Long
Presented by the Mint Museum Auxiliary, this marquee kick-off to the Room to Bloom Celebration will be held at the Mint Museum Uptown with keynote speaker William Ivey Long.Read More
Symposium Featuring Frances Schultz
This perennially sold-out coffee, lecture and luncheon will be held at the Charlotte Country Club which hosts 500 guests and features a silent auction and book signing by Frances Schultz.Read More
Mint Eight-O Aloha!
A throw back to the original Hawaii Five-O, this evening event will celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the Mint Museum with luau-style eats, libations and sounds of the 70s and 80s from Charlotte superstars, The Bad Daddies band.Read More
Room to Bloom Symposium
Guest speaker: Nathan Turner, renowned interior decorator, author, and avid cook. Read More
Mint Museum Auxiliary Presents an Evening with Jonathan Adler
Style trendsetter headlines Fall EnrichMINT Forum October 14
Style trendsetter Jonathan Adler will headline The Mint Museum Auxiliary’s Annual Fall EnrichMINT Forum on Wednesday, 0ctober 14, from 6 – 8:30 p.m. at Mint Museum Uptown at Levine Center for the Arts, 500 South Tryon Street in Charlotte.
Adler is a renowned potter, interior designer, author, and entrepreneur. His mission is to bring style, craft, and joy to the consumer. Iconic and irreverent, his collection takes inspiration from mid-century style, art, global pop culture, and luxe lifestyles, offering consumers a refreshing approach to modern American glamour.
From his obsession with ceramics as a child growing up in New Jersey, Adler attended Brown University to study semiotics and art history but spent most of his time at the Rhode Island School of Design making pots.
He then taught pottery in New York City, eventually selling his concept for unique ceramic décor pieces to Barneys New York. His entrepreneurial career and design brand development had just begun. In 1998 he opened his first retail store and now has 26 Jonathan Adler stores worldwide. He also has numerous wholesale relationships with major high end retailers, and a website, all featuring his signature pottery, furniture, lighting, décor, bed, bath, tabletop, area rugs, and handbag product lines.
Adler has authored My Prescription for Anti-Depressive Living, 100 Ways to Happy Chic Your Life, On Happy Chic – Colors, and On Happy Chic – Accessorizing. He was also head judge on Top Designer, a reality series on the Bravo network.
An entertaining, humorous, and inspiring speaker, Adler’s presentation will be followed by a book signing. Proceeds benefit The Mint Museum.
“The Mint Museum Auxiliary is thrilled to welcome Jonathan Adler to Charlotte as the keynote speaker for the Fall EnrichMINT Forum, our premier kick-off event of the 2015-16 Room To Bloom Celebration. We’re sure our guests will be delighted by Jonathan’s outrageous humor and wit as he speaks about his humble beginnings, believing and achieving the American dream, the creative process, his design philosophy and personal mission to bring style, craft, and joy to your life – one accessory at a time! We expect this event to sell out,” said Mint Museum Auxiliary President Rocky Trenkelbach.
“In gratitude, we extend a special thank you to our Fall Celebration Partner, Wells Fargo, and to all of our sponsors, benefactors, and patrons for their significant contributions to make this event possible. We also want to thank Event Co-Chairs Kathryn Dixon and Carrie Miller for their ingenuity and hard work.”
Tickets for the event are $150. Seating is limited. Funds raised will be used to support inspiring educational offerings for the community and significant acquisitions for the permanent collection of The Mint Museum.
In addition to the Fall Celebration Partner Wells Fargo, the Auxiliary salutes its other generous sponsors: Presenting – InterCon and Veranda; Signature – ADAC; Select – Beacon Partners and Triad Foundation. Corporate – Belk, Carolina CAT, Doyle New York, Moore & Van Allen, Rinehart Wealth Management, SteelFab and Whitlock Builders; Mint Medley – Paper Twist, The Sporting Gent and Woo; Business – Autrey Kemp Nurseries, Barrie Benson Interior Design, Couture Knots, Dickens Mitchener, E. Frank Smith Residential Design, The English Room, Gerrard Builders, Gray Walker Interiors, Hidell Brooks Gallery, Hilliard Studio Method, Joyner Benfield Distinctive Land & Waterscapes, Mark Phelps Interiors, Meyer Greeson Paullin Benson, Morgan Landscape Group, Pursley Dixon Architecture, Ruard Veltman Architecture, Tiny and Vargi & Vargi; In Kind – Classic Party Rentals, Peachy the Magazine and The Scout Guide.
For more about the Mint Museum Auxiliary, how to join The Mint Museum, and ticket sales, visit mintmuseumauxiliary.org . For questions, email Nancy Smith at smith.nancyt@gmail.com or call 917.855.4443.
Above image: Photo by Todd Tankersley.