April 22, 2011: Opening Reception and Artist Talk
May 6, 2011: First Friday Reception

1708 Gallery invites you to experience our two latest exhibitions opening on April 22. Michael McFalls’ Recent Works and Kevin Jones’ Chemtrail encourage us to take a closer look at our environments and the objects within them. An opening reception will be held on Friday, April 22, 2011, from 6 to 8 p.m. and will include a talk by the artists at 6:30 p.m., complimentary hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. The exhibitions will be on view through Saturday, May 28, 2011.

Michael McFalls’ sculptures exist in the space between natural phenomena and the man-made. Using plaster and waste, he “combines and reassembles these mismatched materials into a synthesis that mimics nature while simultaneously capturing the uncontrived and natural appearance of the parts.” In so doing, he invites the viewer to consider the lingering, or potentially novel, significance of used materials that now are taken for granted.

Through digitally produced images and a video installation, Kevin Jones examines systems found in scientific investigation, specifically the periodic table of elements. His video, The Culture of Logic, builds upon the structure of the periodic table and features a combination of images that when seen together fluctuate between meaning and nonsense. By reconfiguring the methods society uses to understand and control its environment, Jones “seeks to question our understanding of the physical world and seeks to test and undermine scientific authority.”

Michael McFalls received a BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design and an MFA in sculpture from University of California at Davis. His work has been shown across the country, most recently in solo exhibitions at the Herbert H. and Barbara C. Dow Center for the Visual Arts in Michigan, the Spotlight Gallery at Truman University in South Carolina, and at the Valdosta State University Arts Center in Georgia. He is currently an Assistant Sculpture Professor at Columbus State. For more information, visit: www.roberts-mcfalls.com.

Kevin Jones received a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University, an MFA in Painting from The University of Texas at Austin, and an MFA in Design from Yale University. He has received numerous fellowships, his most current being the Louisiana Division of the Arts Artist Fellowship, and has exhibited his work across the country and abroad. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Newcomb Art Department at Tulane University. For more information, visit: www.kevinhjones.com.