Up & Coming Weekly

September 21, 2021

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM SEPTEMBER 22-28, 2021 UCW 11 SONI MARTIN, Gallery 208 Curator. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200. is painting, perhaps, is a pivotal moment in time and re- veals Tonape's future journey of exploration and love for both the human form and nonobjective expression. Whether it is figurative or a nonobjective work of art, "Gloria" is an example of how Tonape creates the experience of time for the viewer. We are drawn in by the burst of shapes and brilliance of color, but also have spaces of rest in the mim- icry of push and pull, activity and rest in the pictorial space. While Tonape's pastel draw- ings convey the feeling of effort- less spontaneity, his process is never random. Viewers will discover his masterful way of using a piece of pastel or a dab of paint into an expressive image. Tonape gives evidence to the idea that material is integral to the overall meaning when he shared the following: "I leave marks in the borders of the paper on a pastel portrait and include them in the framing of the portrait — they are evidence of the process." Tonape creates a story in both his figurative and nonobjective works, ob- jects and the figures are placed in the composition for viewers to ponder the story. e pastel drawing, titled "Witnessing," is a good example of an inten- tional story-telling composition. ree portraits are included in the 19" x 19" pastel drawing. e luminous, warm skin of the seated figure contrasts with her cool, stare — we sense her guarded gaze. A photograph of Frida Kahlo, a well-known artist and woman activist, is on her right. Tonape has painted himself into the background as an onlooker. After our senses acknowledge the skill of the artist, we then wonder about the relationship of the three portraits. Tension in the work emerges, Tonape's use of emotion, space and a well-known iconic image leave us with questions to answer about the meaning in Witnessing. In addition to Tonape's overall approach to building a composition, the way he performs in a specific medium also influences how we experience each work. For example, a pastel drawing in the exhibit titled "Moments of Glo- ria," is evidence of his performance or the act of making: broad sweeping strokes of color are the result of paint as it leaves the brush onto a surface. Later, in his pastel drawings, the performance become a specific, focused, repetitive act of adding a multitude of points of color on the surface of the paper. In the words of Tonape, "the large shapes across the surface of a portrait became a mosaic of shapes." It's easy to see that color is very important to Tonape, but his response to shape is also highly relevant. Tonape responded: "Color is structure. Shape without color, for me, does not mean anything … I think of the shape of color. When color seems to take over, shape is always the underpinning." At the end of the interview, I asked Tonape what some of his influences have been that helped to shape his work as an artist. Tonape was quick to say, "the biggest influence is Picasso's dedication and engagement as an artist, three of my undergraduate teachers and two of my graduate professors, being in America for 27 years, seeing works of art in museums and galleries, and just being around people." Visitors to Ways of Knowing will need to spend time in the gallery to study the large body of work being exhibited and become aware of Tonape's subtle and underlying formal structure. e exhibition includes figurative and nonobjective works next to each other to reveal underlying sources and influences — a stark reminder of the artist's diversified knowledge. Anyone interested is seeing Tonape do a portrait demonstration will need to mark their calendar for the free online demonstration that takes place towards the end of the exhibition. On Oct. 19, from 5–7 p.m., Tonape will be doing a live online demonstration from a model. (e surprise model is a well-known member of the community). Before the event, the public is invited to log onto Fayetteville State University's Fine Art Series Live on Facebook. Rosenthal Gallery is located at 1200 Murchison Road on the campus of Fayetteville State University. Ways of Knowing is open from Sept. 23 – Oct. 23. Gallery hours are Mon- day – Friday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. For information on the exhibit or the call 910-672-1057 or 910-672-1571 or email smartin@uncfsu.edu Artist Vilas Tonape conducted a private teaching session with President George W. Bush in 2018, after the former president watched one of Tonape's YouTube insructional videos. Bush took up painting after reading a 1932 essay by Winston Churchill titled "Painting as a Pastime." (Photos courtesy the artist)

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