N.C. State alumni find artistic beauty in destruction

Once a building loses its purpose, whether it be industry or service, it is completely abandoned and forgotten, becoming into a decayed version of what it once was. Despite this, however, some artists have found that these buildings have another purpose—telling a story of a time long past.

Currently, Artspace is running an exhibition in Gallery Two called “Rising Into Ruin” that explores the abandonment and decay of industrial buildings and the urban landscape. The idea of the modern ruins compares with ancient ruins of the classical world. The exhibit features two N.C. State alumni artists; Tim Kiernan, class of 2002, and Greg Lindquist, class of 2003.

The idea for the exhibit stems from a new genre of art that explores and accentuates the ruins of industrial buildings and the style is gaining in popularity. Time magazine ran a photo essay comprised of work by photographer Sean Hemmerle, which featured photos of the ruins of Detroit, one of the more popular subjects for this rapidly increasing genre.

“The overall theme of the show is…modern day ruins and looking at what becomes of these forgotten structures,” Kiernan said.

Lia Newman, director of programs and exhibitions at Artspace, said that the inspiration came from viewing Lindquist’s work and the work of another artist featured in the show, Morgan Craig.

“I guess what I saw in their work was a connection about urban development and land use and disuse, like what happens to these industrial spaces,” Newman said.

Newman said the she believes the show is very relevant to our ever-growing and ever-changing society, both nationally and locally.

“I was interested in the idea because there has been so much growth and change in Raleigh since I moved here,” she said.

For the show, Kiernan created a video installation that was inspired by deteriorating St. Agnes Hospital, located on the campus of St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh.

“It’s three blocks away from where my house is, but I didn’t know much about it,” Kiernan said. “The building is the closest thing we have to ruins—ruins in the classical sense. This building is over a hundred years old.”

After doing some research, Kiernan discovered that the hospital was closed down in 1961 after desegregation in North Carolina and that it is a very important building to the African American community.

“It started with curiosity at a building in my environment and then it became a deeper look at what it meant to the community,” Kiernan said.

Kiernan said the work he created for the show was a “site-specific piece” because he created it to fit in the gallery at Artspace. With all of the research and actual creation, Kiernan said he’s been working on it for around five months.

Lindquist’s art, which helped to inspire the idea to bring the show to Artspace, is a series of paintings based on photographs of ruins.

“It’s about layers,” Lindquist said. “It’s all these things that refer to each other.”

Newman described Lindquist’s paintings as focusing on the “exterior, wide view” of the changing landscape as opposed to Craig’s paintings which focus on the emotion of the modern ruins.

Lindquist said that the title of the exhibit came from an essay called “A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey,” written by Robert Smithson, an artist who came to be obsessed with the idea of these modern ruins.

“He had this great way of synthesizing science and art and literature,” Lindquist said. “He was obsessed with things falling apart and almost thought it better represented life than things coming into life. It expands the idea of what a ruin can be—that a ruin can be beautiful.”

Lindquist said that those ideas pertained to his own paintings—that his work addresses how these ruins affect the local, national and global community.

“For me it’s about playing with different ways of translating imagery,” Lindquist said.

Exhibits that feature alumni work aren’t new to Artspace. Newman has worked previously with University students and graduates.

“For all our exhibitions, we’re looking at emerging and established artists,” Newman said. “For some of them, I’ve become familiar with their work while they were NCSU.”

Newman said she enjoys working closely with the art community at the University and giving them the chance to showcase their work.

“What’s been really great about working with NCSU is that it speaks highly about the art department and the College of Design,” she said.

The show runs until May 7 at Artspace gallery in downtown Raleigh. Both Lindquist and Kiernan hope that students will come out and see it.

“[It’s] a nice opportunity to see alumni’s work and support local art in the area,” Kiernan said.