A poetry reading by Robert Gibbons

  • Date: July 19, 2018
  • Time: 05:45 PM - 06:45 PM
  • Location: Greenhut Galleries, Portland
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Greenhut Galleries is excited to announce that the inaugural event in a series of literary events we are launching will be a reading by Maine poet Robert Gibbons. Paired with David Driskell's current solo show "Assemblage," Gibbons's reading will include ekphrastic poems responding to Driskell's work, as well as other poems selected from across his long and distinguished writing career.
Richard Hoffman, former Chairman of PEN New England, described Gibbons's writing as "sacralizing Portland, lodging it in the imagination of readers." His poems addressing Driskell's work have a similar effect, amplifying their visual impact by vocalizing the emotional reaction one has to Driskell's vibrant, spiritual art. 
In response to Driskell's "Behold Thy Son," which hangs in the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, Gibbons wrote:
"The artist who painted
Behold Thy Son, 1956,
once graced this door,
crossed the threshold
to look around. Even
silence in the aura
of such a man 
can unveil 
an arc 
of Truth."
An "arc of Truth" is also an apt description for a work of art. As Flannery O'Connor wrote, "The basis of art is truth, both in matter and in mode." By bringing non-visual arts into the gallery, we hope to complement and illuminate our visual art. We cannot think of a better artist to begin this endeavor than Robert Gibbons.  
Robert Gibbons is the author of ten books of poetry, as well as a chapbook, Of DC, with cover designed by Robert Rauschenberg, and a study of the similarities in approaches to art in language by the great American poet Charles Olson and that in paint by the Abstract Expressionist, Clyfford Still, Olson/Still: Crossroad. Gibbons is currently a Research Associate at Colby College, Waterville.
Wine and light refreshments will be served.
Image courtesy of Geoff Gronlund.
 

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Greenhut Galleries

146 Middle Street
Portland  ME  04101 

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Greenhut Galleries

John Danos
2077722693
moc.seirellagtuhneerg@ofni
www.greenhutgalleries.com