About the Exhibition
About the Exhibition
Elevate at 21c presents temporary exhibitions of works by artists living and working in the communities surrounding each 21c Museum Hotel property. Elevate provides hotel guests with unique access to the work of notable regional artists, while featuring their work in the context of 21c’s contemporary art space. To view these works, please stop by the front desk to arrange access to the vitrines on guest room floors.
Elevate at 21c Lexington presents the work of Lina Tharsing, Crystal Gregory and Alexa Williams, Mia Cinelli and James R Southard.
James R Southard
Lest We Forget, 2019
Floor 3
Lest We Forget is an animated video series created using historic Kodachrome slides taken by James R Southard’s father during the Vietnam War. The series illustrates fictional experiences created by Southard and his brothers, amalgams of pop culture, film, and television depictions of the war, as they struggle to imagine the reality of his wartime life. Southard says, “Since his passing, we are unable to ask him and only have his military record and these images.”
Crystal Gregory and Alexa Williams
Husk, 2019
Pressed sawdust, copper rings, and paint in a Kentucky field over three days.
Floor 5
Husk is the latest iteration of the collaborative sculpture work of Crystal Gregory and Alexa Williams. Using durable metal, concrete, and sawdust, the artists create sculptures that require constant rearrangement and care over time. Each project is carefully designed to build delicate and impermanent cast shapes sitting within particular landscapes. These site-specific works reflect an ongoing working relationship between two women.
The Husk project includes a temporary installation in each artists’ current home: the first at West Sixth Farm in the rolling hills of Kentucky (shown here), and the second on an open beachscape in New York.
Insatiable Spaces [parade candy], 2019
Floor 6
“Engaging with the archetypal form of a house as a metaphor for the safe and familiar, I aim to explore the physical manifestations of yearning. As emotionally functional objects, these sculptures serve to address, alleviate, or activate our longing. Here, nostalgia and homesickness are similar as insatiable desires. These tiny spaces are sardonic faux-confections; simultaneously delightful and disappointing.” – Mia Cinelli
Mia Cinelli is a multidisciplinary artist and designer specializing in the design of images, objects, and experiences. With work ranging from experimental products to digital typefaces, her work conceptualizes frameworks for experiences which engender meaningful interactions. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Art Studio & Digital Design at the University of Kentucky.
